Agha wants Pakistan to be “fearless but not careless” after series win against Bangladesh lays down T20i marker.
Between this T20I series and Pakistan’s previous one, a lot has changed. This match, against Bangladesh, was played at home on the opposite side of PSL 2025, whereas that one was played in New Zealand following a terrible home Champions Trophy campaign. With a fresh coaching staff, Pakistan achieved a far different outcome—a 3-0 thumping of Bangladesh instead of a 4-1 loss in fresh Zealand.
Salman Agha, however, is pleased that he believes Pakistan’s style of play has not altered. Several young players who were called up for that New Zealand series played key roles in this one as part of their ongoing resolve to lessen the role anchors play in a batting innings. This artistic continuity between these two series is noteworthy in and of itself because game styles and ideologies in Pakistan are generally fleeting and determined by one or two poor outcomes.
“I think this is the way to play cricket going forward; that’s how the world is playing. You need to put the bowlers and batters under pressure. In New Zealand, this is what we tried to follow, but conditions didn’t allow it. But the boys who went there learned a way to be fearless without being careless. That is something we’ve balanced perfectly this series.”
That balance is infamously hard to explain, let alone attain; maybe Shane Warne’s well-known advice to “tee off (not recklessly)” best captures how much the outcome ultimately determines how this strategy is seen. Perhaps Mohammad Haris’s performances throughout these matches are what give the impression that Pakistan came out on the winning side of that balance.
With less pressure at the start of the following two matches, Haris would attack the bowlers right away, leading to that historic undefeated 46-ball 107 to complete the rout.
“Haris gets accused of not using his brain during T20 innings,” Agha said. “In this series, when we were 5 for 2 [in the first game], he took calculated risks, and the same today. I think Haris, Saim [Ayub] and Hasan [Nawaz] are players I’d like to turn into matchwinners in my captaincy. These players can perform wonders for Pakistan cricket.”