Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha walks off the field after his dismissal during the third T20 cricket match between Pakistan and Australia, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo)
Brushing aside the controversy regarding their boycott of the T20 World Cup game against India, Pakistan cricket team swept the Australian team by a 3-0 margin in the final series before the T20 extravaganza hosted by India and Sri Lanka. What was heartening for Pakistan was that the team’s winning margins got bigger with each passing game: they won by 22 runs in the 1st T20, then a 90-run margin in the second game and finally by a whopping 111-run margin in the third T20. The Australian team was missing many of their regulars who are in a race to be fit for the T20 World Cup which starts later this week.
Former Pakistan spacer Shoaib Akhtar was full of praise for the Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha, who he called a selfless captain. Agha ended as the top runscorer in the three-match series with 120 runs, including a match-winning, career best score of 76 off 40 balls in the second game. But it was his decision-making abilities as the skipper of the Pakistan team that Akhtar picked as the reasons why he was a standout at the helm.
“Pakistan has found a good captain. For the first time in a decade, there is a man who puts the Pakistan team first. This is the first time I have seen that we have a captain who is sacrificing his own place (in the batting order) for the betterment of the team,” Akhtar said on the Game On Hai show.
“This guy is like Daren Sammy for us. He can bat, but he’s a very selfless captain. I’m very happy to see that there is a man at the helm who thinks that let others do well, and my own place in the team is in God’s hands,” Akhtar added.
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