RAWALPINDI: Pakistan will try to avoid the mistakes they made in the high-profile Asian Games final against India when the Sahibzada Farhan-led team face Sri Lanka in a home T20 International series, young batter Hasan Nawaz said on Wednesday.
“If you remain stuck after losing [a major game] how can you progress?” Hasan said while talking to reporters at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium where Pakistan players practised for the Sri Lanka series.
“[Whereas] when you move while learning from your mistakes, you definitely improve. We will try to avoid the mistakes [which we made in the Asian Games final] in the forthcoming matches,” the 24-year-old added.
Pakistan face Sri Lanka in a three-match T20 International series starting in Rawalpindi on Friday. All the matches will be held at the same venue.
The Green-shirts under Farhan lost a high-scoring Asian Games final to India by 19 runs in Nisshin, Japan on Saturday despite Hasan’s 51-ball 96 laced with seven sixes and five fours. Chasing a mammoth 212 in the final, Pakistan went down fighting as they posted 192-6 off the allotted overs.
When Pakistan last played Sri Lanka in February this year at the T20 World Cup in Pallekele, Salman Ali Agha was the Green-shirts’ skipper. He was later replaced with Farhan for the job, and axed from the team as well, for the Asian Games.
The Pakistan Cricket Board kept faith in Farhan’s leadership ability following the Asian Games. Experienced players like Salman, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi were also dropped from the T20 team — due to their topsy-turvy performance — for the Sri Lanka series as the PCB, it seems, wants to give some time to budding players for building a strong side as veteran pros continue to struggle in key international contests.
Youngsters including Hasan, Abdul Samad, Khawaja Nafay, Arafat Minhas, Maaz Sadaqat, Sufyan Moqim and Razaullah, the player who excelled with bat and ball in the final Test against England in Leeds last month, are now part of a new-look national T20 squad that will compete against the Kusal Mendis-captained Sri Lanka. Frontline fast bowler Naseem Shah, who last represented Pakistan in T20s at this year’s T20 World Cup, also returned to the national side.
On their last T20 tour to Pakistan in November, Sri Lanka lost a three-game rubber 2-1.
Answering a question regarding a high-profile Asiad final, the right-handed batter regretted the Green-shirts’ loss.
“[Ironically] I was dropped last year [after failing against India in the T20 Asia Cup]. Now, I have made a comeback [by playing a fine knock] against them in the Asian Games final. However, in the end it was painful to lose that close game in which there were minor mistakes that led to our defeat,” Hasan said.
“We could have won, had we avoided those mistakes.
“India are world’s top T20 team and performing against them definitely gave me a lot of confidence.”
After the T20 series, Pakistan and Sri Lanka lock horns in a three-match ODI series followed by a tri-nation ODI series also involving England.
Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2026
