Farhan made 100 the last time Pakistan played Sri Lanka, and now he captains them without Babar in Rawalpindi
Sahibzada Farhan’s first series as Pakistan’s T20I captain starts against Sri Lanka on Friday, with Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Salman Ali Agha all missing from the squad.
Oct 8, 2026
The last time Pakistan played Sri Lanka in a T20I, Babar Azam was left out and Sahibzada Farhan made 100. Pakistan won by five runs and went out of the T20 World Cup anyway. Seven months on, Farhan is the captain and Babar is still not in the side. The three-match series starts under lights at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday, 9 October.
A new captain and two big names missing
Farhan takes over from Salman Ali Agha, who has lost the job and his place in the T20I squad. Babar and Shaheen Shah Afridi are not in the 15 either, though both are in the squad for the ODI tri-series with England and Sri Lanka later in the month, with Shaheen still captain in that format.
Babar’s World Cup is not hard to read. He made 91 runs in six matches at the World Cup at a strike rate of 112.34, and Pakistan dropped him for the Super Eights game against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on 28 February. Farhan opened that night and made 100. He and Fakhar Zaman put on 176, the highest stand for any wicket in T20 World Cup history, and Pakistan posted 212 for 8. Sri Lanka got to 207 for 6, Pakistan won by five runs, and net run rate sent them home anyway.
That hundred was Farhan’s second of the tournament. Nobody had made two in one T20 World Cup before, and his 383 runs also took the record for a single edition from Virat Kohli, who made 319 in 2014. He then led Pakistan to the Asian Games final in Japan, where India beat them by 19 runs.
There are new names under him. Razaullah has his first white-ball call-up and Mohammad Imran Randhawa his first T20I selection. Fakhar, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Saim Ayub and Hasan Nawaz give the squad its experience.
Sri Lanka arrive after a 3-0 in England
Sri Lanka’s last T20I series ended with three defeats in England. In the third, at Old Trafford on 19 September, England chased 125 with 62 balls to spare. Kusal Mendis missed those T20Is with a hamstring injury picked up in the Lanka Premier League, and he is back to captain the side.
He does not have his two biggest names. Pathum Nissanka and Wanindu Hasaranga are both injured, so Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth carry the spin, with Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando and Eshan Malinga the seamers. Dasun Shanaka, whose 76 not out nearly won the World Cup game in Pallekele, is in the squad.
Chasing has paid at Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi suits the side batting second. Of the 14 completed men’s T20Is at the ground, ten have been won by the chasing team. The last time Sri Lanka came, for a tri-series in November 2025, Pakistan won two of the three meetings, both batting second. The full numbers are in our Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch report.
I’d have Pakistan as favourites, and if Farhan wins the toss, the record says bowl. The question is whether a top order without Babar can set a target that holds up here if he has to bat first. The second and third T20Is follow at the same ground on 11 and 13 October, before the ODI tri-series begins on 18 October.