Today there is a New Zealand vs Pakistan match in the T20 World Cup, which will be played at R Premadasa Stadium from 7 pm. Before this Super-8 match, Shahid Afridi insisted that Babar Azam should open. Regarding Saim Ayub, he said that he has not been able to perform while opening for a long time. Afridi got angry at his team and even said that if you had already thought that you have to play Babar at number four, then you have gone to play in the tournament only after losing to Pakistan.

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said these things on a show on Sama TV. His video is also going viral. Afridi said, “It is okay that Aaqib Javed etc. have made a team for you. I do not blame any one person. But I understand that you field your team after seeing the opposition team, seeing the pitch, seeing the situation, but if you had thought while sitting in Pakistan that Babar Azam will play at number four, then it means that you have lost to Pakistan itself.”

Afridi further said, “If we look at the last 40-50 matches of Saim Ayub, he hardly performed in 2-4 or 5 matches. So it should have been in our mind that if this boy is not performing consistently then we will use Babar Azam there. You should think that Ayub is not performing, which is necessary for the team and we have backup behind. We have Babar Azam as a senior player. Babar Azam is not the number four batsman, if you go to Pakistan thinking this then you have lost.”

I honestly didn’t expect Shahid Afridi to make such a strong statement in Babar Azam’s favour, but I was genuinely surprised to see him so passionately pushing for Babar to open, even putting pressure on the coach and captain. pic.twitter.com/dKtxK2PZ6s

— floki (@Unfeel34) February 21, 2026

Shahid Afridi said that if Saim Ayub is not performing in 2-3 matches in T20 World Cup 2026, then you should have got Babar Azam to open. Let us tell you that Pakistan has reached Super-8, its first match in this group is with New Zealand today. Next they have to play with England and Sri Lanka.

How is Ayub’s performance in T20 World Cup 2026?

Saim Ayub, who scored 24 runs against Netherlands, scored 19 runs against USA. He was out after scoring 6 runs against India and was able to score only 14 runs against Namibia. No big innings have come from his bat yet.

The T20 World Cup 2026 started with 20 teams. After the league stage, 8 teams have qualified for the next round, while the journey of 12 teams is over. India, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and Pakistan have reached the Super-8 round. Know between which teams the first match of this round is today. When and where will this match take place, know the details of its live telecast.

First let us explain to you the format of T20 World Cup 2026 Super-8. The teams that reached this round have been divided into two groups. There are 4 teams in each group, each team will play 1-1 match with all the teams of its group. After this round, the top two teams of Group 1 and 2 will reach the semi-finals, the journey of the third and fourth placed teams will end.

Whose match is in the World Cup today?

Today there is a match of Group 2, in which New Zealand and Pakistan will face each other. In the league stage, both the teams had won 3 out of 4 matches and lost 1.

Where will the New Zealand vs Pakistan match be played?

Today’s match between New Zealand and Pakistan will be played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Pakistan had lost to India on this ground.

What time will the New Zealand vs Pakistan match start?

The match will start at 7 pm. The toss will take place at 6:30 pm.

Where to watch live cricket match?

The New Zealand vs Pakistan match will be telecast live on Star Sports Network channels. There will be live streaming of the match on JioHotstar app and website.

new zealand squad

James Neesham, Devon Conway, Cole McConkey, Daryl Mitchell, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Mitchell Santner (c), Mark Chapman, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Seifert (wk), Glenn Phillips, Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears.

pakistan squad

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Babar Azam, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Aga (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Khawaja Nafe (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq.