T20 World Cup 2026: Time’s up for reputation as Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi face mounting pressure to deliver vs India
Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam (Source: PCB)
Published - 14 Feb 2026, 04:56 PM• Read time - 3 mins
For nearly a decade now, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been the faces of Pakistan cricket. One is the batting anchor, the other the pace spearhead. They are leaders in the dressing room and are expected to take charge every time the team takes the field.
And yet, when you take away the noise and look only at T20Is against India, a stark truth emerges: barring one night in Dubai in 2021, they simply haven’t turned up. With another T20 World Cup clash against India looming on February 15, that uncomfortable reality can no longer be dodged. The time for reputation has passed; now it’s about delivering when it matters.
Babar Azam: One standout innings, but a quiet overall record
Babar made his T20I debut on September 7, 2016. He has already seen enough India-Pakistan contests to know what they demand. But his numbers against the Men in Blue tell a story that doesn’t match his stature.
- Matches: 5
- Runs: 105
- Highest score: 68*
- Average: 26.25
- Strike rate: 128.04
- Boundaries: 12 fours, 2 sixes
On the surface, those figures are passable. But once you zoom in, the concern becomes obvious.
Of those 105 runs, 68 came in a single innings: the unbeaten half‑century in the 2021 T20 World Cup, the night Pakistan finally snapped the India hoodoo in a World Cup. Take that game out, and Babar has scored just 37 runs in four matches combined. That’s not a blip but a pattern.
For a player who is supposed to be Pakistan’s batting reference point, four low‑impact outings out of five against the team that matters most is a serious gap in his résumé. His boundary count (only 12 fours and two sixes across all those games) underlines how he has been unable to impose pressure on India’s bowlers.
On February 15, he doesn’t just need to survive India. He needs to shape the game.
Shaheen Afridi: One defining spell, yet inconsistent return overall
Shaheen’s aura against India is built almost entirely on one spell: that new‑ball demolition in Dubai in 2021. Pinning Rohit Sharma in front of his middle and leg stump with a fuller delivery that tailed back into him late and rammed into his back pad, disturbing KL Rahul's woodwork, the figures of 3/31, those images have lived rent‑free in highlight reels and memory ever since.
But the full record is far less flattering.
- Matches: 6
- Overs: 21.5
- Runs conceded: 177
- Wickets: 5
- Best bowling figures: 3/31
- Economy: 8.10
- Average: 35.40
Again, the distribution matters more than the aggregate. Three of his five wickets came in that single 2021 World Cup game. Outside that fixture, Shaheen has gone wicketless in three matches and taken just one wicket each in two others.
For a bowler who is supposed to set the tone, that’s a worrying return. An economy rate over eight and an average north of 35 against India is not the profile of a bowler who consistently shines; instead, it’s the profile of one who has produced one iconic performance and then drifted.
On February 15, Shaheen has to close that gap at the R Premadasa in Colombo. Experience holds value, but it must now be matched by a substantial contribution.
Babar and Shaheen are not emerging talents anymore. They are the ones others look towards when the national anthem ends, and the crowd erupts. Their careers have spanned enough high‑pressure games, multiple ICC events, and enough India-Pakistan clashes for patterns to be meaningful.
And the pattern is clear: against India in T20Is, they have one great game each and too many quiet ones.
February 15: A moment to refine the storyline
For Babar and Shaheen, February 15 is less about proving they are world‑class and more about proving they are world‑class when it matters most to Pakistan.
For Babar, it means a knock that sets the tone, controls the chase, or breaks the game open.
For Shaheen, that means more than one iconic spell. It means sustained threat, discipline, and a spell that India feel long after the final ball in Colombo is delivered.
If they falter again, then the narrative will grow more profound: remarkable players in general, strangely subdued against India in T20Is. If they deliver, then that would justify that the game in Dubai in 2021 at the Ring of Fire was anything but an outlier.
