T20 World Cup: Harry Brook’s men must be ready to win ugly against Pakistan

It looks like an intriguing contest between Harry Brook’s England, who must be mentally getting ready to ‘win ugly’ against a spin-heavy Pakistan in the second Super Eight clash for both in the T20 World Cup on Tuesday. The sluggish wicket at Pallekele in Sri Lanka, where spin will definitely come into play, will test the adaptability of the England batters, who must be on a high after starting the second round with a key win over the co-hosts.    

History has largely favoured England, who lead the overall T20I head-to-head 21-9 and have won all three previous meetings against Pakistan in T20 World Cups, including the 2022 final. They have already won a bilateral series at the same venue against Lanka only a month back as well as their first Super Eight fixture, while this will be Pakistan’s first outing at the venue in the competition.

Speaking in the media interaction ahead of the game, England’s Liam Dawson admitted that Pakistan’s spin prowess is not dependant on Usman Tariq’s mystery spin alone. ‘’Obviously, they’re a very good team with some dangerous players and Tariq’s obviously a very good bowler. I’m sure the boys will do their homework... You know, it’s not all about Tariq. I think they’ve got a very well-rounded team as well. So we’re not going to just look at him, we’ll look at the whole team and see how we can nullify them,’’ he said. 

While the 2022 champions will be looking to peak on time after a rather on-and-off campaign in the league stage, the green shirts had last taken the field in a one-sided win against Namibia on 18 February. A rained off game against New Zealand means both have only a point on the board - and it will call for some sense of urgency from Pakistan to not leave it too late.

Shahibzada Farhan, Pakistan’s centurion against minnows Namibia who had been having a prolific T20 run since the start of 2025, struck a positive note when asked about the potential threat from Jofra Archer in the powerplay overs. ‘’No, it’s not a big deal to face Jofra Archer. We have already faced him in Pakistan. We have good bowlers, they also bowl at 145. So it’s not a big deal. They (England) will definitely have planned it but I have also planned it. It's not that only he will have plans. So, we will see. It will be a good match,’’ he said.  

However, while Farhan’s form is a major positive, the rest of their batting order is yet to make an impact — with all averaging below 30 in this tournament and nobody registering a fifty-plus score. Against an England attack that did well to defend 146 against Sri Lanka, Pakistan’s batters could have their work cut out.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see where Babar Azam bats for Pakistan as against Namibia, he did not come out to bat with Khawaja Nafay and Shadab Khan sent ahead of him. ‘’We got to the 12th over mark and at that point, Babar Azam is not the best person to come in,’’ said head coach Mike Hesson.