Live: T20 Worldcup 2026

After England beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup Super Eight clash by two wickets on Tuesday, Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has acknowledged that his side’s fate was not in its hands anymore.

Pakistan have only one point from two Super Eight matches so now must win their final game and rely on other results going their way to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals.

“We know our fate is not in our hands,” he admitted, “But we need to beat Sri Lanka in our last match on Saturday and then hope other results go our way.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s like this,” Shaheen said during a press conference after the match.

Pakistan captain Salman Agha admits that his side did not score enough in the game against England. He also praises England skipper Harry Brook, who he said “took the game away from us”.

“[We] started well with the bat but couldn’t finish the way we wanted to. But some days you have to give credit to other batters. I think Harry batted brilliantly. Our score was a bit short. And then Brook took the game away from us,” he said.

Salman said Sahibzada Farhan — the only batsman from Pakistan’s side to get past 50 in today’s match — had batted very well throughout the World Cup.

“But other batters haven’t played the way we wanted to but it can happen like that in World Cups.”

The skipper was also all praises for pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who took four wickets including that of Brook.

“He bowled really well today. He’s famous for early wickets and he did that today. Whenever we play against England and lose, it’s always him.”

Salman added, “ They (England) batted really well against [Usman] Tariq. They didn’t go hard against him. Still he got two wickets. The way Nawaz bowled the 19th over, I thought maybe, you never know. Even if there’s a one per cent chance my team will go for it.“

England captain Harry Brook has been named the player of the match for his brilliant century against Pakistan.

His side has now booked a place in the semi-finals, on which he says, “[It’s] Just nice to get through to the semis.”

“We have one more game against New Zealand and we’ll focus on that.”

About the Green Shirts, he said: “They are always good. Some world class players there. Just nice to get over the line.”

He added that “there’s always areas we want to improve on and you can never quite get perfection, but we’re always striving for it”.

Lastly, on his century, he said: “I was just happy to get the job done, to be honest. We were in a tricky situation to start, and a couple of partnerships after that. Nice to get over the line.”

Shadab came in next and was deposited into the deep by Archer for a four.

With 166 runs on the scoreboard after the dismissal of eight batsmen, England won by two wickets.

They are going to the semi-finals for sure, securing a second victory in the Super Eights.

Nawaz bowled out Jacks on the first ball, taking England’s seventh wicket.

Next man in was Dawson, who took a single off Nawaz’s second delivery and passed the strike to Jamie Overton.

Two more dots, and Nawaz dismissed Overton, rekindling some hope for Pakistan.

Archer was the next man in, and a misfield let him sneak a single, which could prove to be too expensive for Pakistan.

Salman Mirza began the over with a wide — not something that Pakistan can really afford this point in the match.

Jacks took a comfortable double off the next ball before Mirza bowled another wide.

No more runs were added to the scoreboard off the following balls, except for a single off the last one.

England now need 5 from 12 balls.

Jacks ran for a double off Shaheen’s first delivery and dispatched the fast bowler for a four on the next ball.

He passed the strike to Brook on the third ball, and the England skipper hit a six over cover off the fourth delivery.

A four on the next ball brought up a century for Brook, only for him to get bowled on the over’s last ball.

An overthrow and poor fielding resulted in the batsmen managing a double off Usman Tariq’s first delivery.

Brook took a single to pass the strike to Jacks on the second ball and, after a dot, the latter pulled over square leg for a six.

He passed the strike to Brook on the fifth ball, and the England captain scored a four to end the over.

Brook knocked the ball off Nawaz’s first delivery for a double, stayed put on the next ball and took a single off the third delivery.

Jacks ran for a double off the fourth delivery and added another run to the scoreboard on the next ball.

A single by Brook ended the over, with England now requiring 41 off 30 balls.

Usman Tariq came in to bowl his third over, with Brook pocketing a double off his second delivery to keep the scoreboard ticking.

A single off the third ball put Jacks on strike, who ran for another single off the fourth delivery.

Brook scored a double off the fifth delivery and ended the over with a single.

A bit of pace again as Salman Mirza was put into the attack.

He delivered two dots to begin the over before Jacks hit an 82m six over extra cover.

The rest of the deliveries ended up being dots.

A double by Curran off Usman’s first ball brought up 100 for England.

After two more singles and a dot, the England batsman was dismissed on a low-arm short ball outside off as Nawaz caught him at deep midwicket.

England are five down, and Will Jacks is the new man in, who ended the over with a single.

Curran passed the strike to Brook off Shadab’s first delivery.

The England captain then firmly hit the ball for a four, beating a diving fielder.

He hit a huge 96m six off the fifth delivery and crunched over a short ball on the leg side for a four to end the over.

England are 99-4.

A single of Saim’s first delivery brought up 50 for Brook — he scored a half-century of 28 balls.

Curran then pocketed another single before the batsmen ran for a double off the next ball.

A poor delivery by Saim on the fifth ball was deposited for a four by Brook, who ran for a single off the next delivery. And Curran managed another single off the last ball.

Shadab was sent to bowl his second over and conceded three singles off the first three deliveries.

His fourth one ended up being a wide before Brook passed the strike to Curran for a single on the next ball, which was followed by a dot.

Curran managed to dispatch a googly for a four to end the over, with Shaheen misfielding at long on.

Usman Tariq struck on the first ball, dismissing Banton with a googly, with the keeper taking the catch.

Next man on strike was Curran, who ran for a single off the next delivery.

The batsmen pocketed singles off the remaining four deliveries as well.

Shadab took up the ball, beginning the over with two dots before Banton passed the strike to Brook for a single.

Brook picked up two more runs off the fourth delivery, and ran for two more off a leg break by Shadab.

A good over for Pakistan as Shadab concedes just five runs.

Brook swept the first delivery by Nawaz for a single, passing the strike to Banton.

Banton knocked the ball for a double off Nawaz’s second delivery and hit a four off the third one at short fine leg, with the ball flying over the fielder’s head.

Nawaz for dispatched for another four off the fourth delivery, and Brook powered the ball down the ground for yet another boundary — a six this time — off the over’s last delivery.

Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken eight wickets in the first over of the T20 World Cup innings, the joint-most of any bowler along with Sri Lanka’s Angelo Matthews, according to ESPNcricinfo.

Saim Ayub came into the attack next and conceded two singles off the first two deliveries.

Bethell picked up the length off his third delivery, sending the ball across the boundary for a four.

Saim almost dismissed Buttler on the fifth ball, but Usman Tariq fumbled and missed a sitter.

Brook powered the ball down the ground towards the fence to end the over with a four.

Shaheen was again put into the attack, who conceded a single as Brook passed the strike to Buttler on his first ball.

The batsmen picked up two more runs off the next ball before Shaheen struck again and dismissed Buttler, who was caught behind on a fantastic delivery.

Next man in was Jacob Bethell, who could not add any runs to the scoreboard off the next two balls and took a single off the last delivery.

Salman Mirza came into the attack and was dispatched for a four by Brook off the first delivery.

Mirza, however, recovered quickly, delivering successive dots off the next three balls.

But, Brook smashed him for a six over square leg off the fifth delivery before ending the over with a single.