Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam returned to form during his second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup T20 against the USA at the Sinhala Sports Club in Colombo on Tuesday, February 10. Babar played a brilliant innings of 46 off 32 balls, studded with four fours and a six. It marked a massive improvement for the Pakistan batsman from the tournament opener against the Netherlands, where he scored 15 off 18 balls and struggled to rotate the strike in the middle overs.
Against USA, Babar came out to bat in the seventh over but failed to get going immediately. He knocked a few singles off the ball but continued to struggle with timely rotation and scored 15 off just 18 balls. However, Babar finally got going when he faced Harmeet Singh in the 13th over.
FIFA World Cup T20: Pakistan vs USA Highlights
He started the over with a maximum over deep mid-wicket and followed it up with a couple of boundaries to take his strike tally past 100. However, just when Babar seemed to have rediscovered his form, he missed out on a half-century and got to long-on. The star batsman hit a quick acceleration in his last 14 deliveries and scored 31 runs, including four fours and a six.
Babar was involved in a massive 81-run stand off 52 balls with Sahibzada Farhan, who scored a quick-fire half-century off just 28 balls. Farhan was eventually dismissed for 73 off 41 balls, smashing six fours and five sixes during his innings.
Apart from them, Shadab Khan also played a quickfire cameo 30 off just 12 balls to help Pakistan post a total of 190 for nine in their allotted 20 overs. Shadley van Schalkwyk once again proved to be the pick of the bowlers for the USA, taking figures of four for 25 in his four overs. His performance also saw him become the tournament’s highest wicket-taker so far, with seven wickets from two innings.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 10, 2026