Pakistan Captain Salman Agha Blamed, Ridiculed Over Costly Tactical Blunders In India Game

Pakistan adopted a unique spin-heavy strategy against India in the T20 World Cup 2026 Group A game against India in Colombo. Skipper Salman Agha used all spin options in his arsenal - 6 to be precise - but still failed to prevent India from crossing the 150-run mark on a challenging surface. Agha, to the surprise of many, donned the hat of Pakistan's strike-bowler and chose to bowl the first over. He even succeeded in dismissing the dangerous Abhishek Sharma. Yet, he bowled just two overs in the innings.

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez refused to mince his words as he targeted Agha after the team's embarrassing 61-run defeat against India. Agha bowled two overs in the game, conceding just 10 runs, but didn't return to bowl again. Hafeez couldn't quite understand why.

"To sum up the entire thing, we are very, very far behind India in terms of cricket, and we should accept that. There should be no embarrassment in that. This has happened because they set their standards very high. They wanted to beat Australia in Australia and England in England. But we never did that," Hafeez said on Tapmad.

"In this match, we made tactical blunders and underutilised our resources. You (Salman) bowled two overs with the new ball and saw there was assistance for finger spinners. You picked up a wicket and conceded just 10 runs. Then why didn't you bowl a third over? Why bring in a mystery spinner who was not getting anything from that pitch?" he asked.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson was spotted on the field during a break, sharing his tactical inputs as Ishan Kishan looked to take the game away from them. Yet, Hafeez was left baffled by how poorly Pakistan used the available resources.

"After the sixth over, Hesson came onto the field. I thought Pakistan would rectify their tactical errors and bring Tariq straight away because Ishan was taking the game away from us. Tariq eventually bowled beautifully, but his usage was wrong. Why did we hold him back? He was your trump card," Hafeez said.

"When Tariq was brought on, the game was already done. And that too, there was no slip. I feel Agha should take responsibility for this. And also the management, because they did not point this out," he added.

"You can bring any team member, but if the usage is incorrect... Also, this was the same XI Pakistan played with, so they knew their roles. It was an execution error on their part. It's time to blame the players, not just the coaches," he said.

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team India Cricket Team Mohammad Hafeez Agha Salman T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket