Former pacer Mohammad Asif has made a bold prediction that the United States of America (USA) will defeat Pakistan again in the next edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2026.
The USA recently handed Pakistan a shocking defeat in the T20 World Cup 2024, which was their first-ever appearance at a major ICC event.
Mohammad Asif, during an appearance on a local YouTube podcast, expressed a strong belief that the way Pakistan is playing lately, they can lose to the USA once again.
“We lost to the USA, who were playing in the T20 World Cup for the first time. They didn’t even qualify, they played because they were the hosts,” Asif said.
“The way the situation is going at this moment, the USA will beat Pakistan in the next World Cup, in 2026. I’ll guarantee you that,” he predicted.
The former pacer suggested that the Pakistan cricket team requires a fresh approach with a new captain, coach, and a comprehensive long-term strategy ahead of the next T20 World Cup.
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“Before the 2026 World Cup, we have to change the captain, coach and the players. There needs to be planning for the two years that this is the team, this is the 20 players we want to work with. But we are repeating the same things, which is why I am telling you this,” he suggested.
Notably, Pakistan had a disastrous start to their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign courtesy of the aforementioned shock loss against the USA.
The Green Shirts lost the game in the Super Over as they failed to chase down the 19-run target. Senior pacer Mohammad Amir bowled the Super Over for Pakistan and conceded 18 runs. In response, the Green Shirts only managed 13/1.
Following the defeat against the USA, Pakistan succumbed to a frustrating six-run defeat against arch-rivals India.
The back-to-back defeats put Pakistan on the verge of an early exit from the tournament. The former champions got on the winning track when they registered a hard-fought seven-wicket victory over Canada to keep Super Eights hopes alive.
However, the USA’s match against Ireland was abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain in Florida, resulting in Pakistan getting knocked out of the tournament.
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