“If you give him Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, he will still lose” - Rashid Latif slams Salman Agha after T20 World Cup exit

Former Pakistan cricketer and analyst Rashid Latif has slammed the Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha for not utilizing the bowlers properly against Sri Lanka as Pakistan eventually got knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.

Speaking at the post-match show ‘Haarna Mana Hai’, Latif stated that even if Agha had bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, he would still lose the game.

“Our problem has been batting. All our specialist bowlers played against Sri Lanka and still gave away more than 200 runs. If you give players like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Shane Warne to this captain, he will still lose the match. What bowlers didn’t you have? You had the likes of Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq, and Shadab Khan. Shadab Khan came to bowl in the 15th over. You had Mohammad Nawaz and Naseem Shah also playing. Only one was dropped, and that was Saim Ayub,” Latif said on the show Haarna Mana Hai. 

“The blame goes to the captain, his game awareness. You bowled four overs of a pacer at the start. You should have kept Naseem Shah’s overs as backup. Abrar should have bowled earlier. He gave you a wicket in the fifth over. I can understand that the batsmen couldn’t score at the end, but you conceded more than 200 runs. The bowling let you down and put you out of the competition,” he added.

Delving into the details of the game, Pakistan batted first and posted 212/8 in 20 overs, thanks to Sahibzada Farhan's 100 and Fakhar Zaman's 84. In response, Sri Lanka posted 207/6 in 20 overs, losing the game by only five runs.

Pakistan was expected to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or less to make it to the semi-final. However, Sri Lankan middle-order batter Pavan Rathnayake and Dasun Shanaka changed the game’s complexion.

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