Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi shakes hands with England’s captain Harry Brook after bowling the latter out during the T20 World Cup cricket match in Pallekele, Sri Lanka. (AP)

TimesofIndia.com in Kandy: As Pakistan’s T20 World Cup campaign teetered on the edge, one moment captured both the pain of defeat and the spirit of the game. When Shaheen Shah Afridi finally dismissed Harry Brook for a sublime century, the Pakistan fast bowler walked across, shook hands with the England captain, and offered a gesture of genuine respect.“He deserved it because he had the world class innings in his life,” Shaheen said later. “I think it’s the best innings. Anyone who plays like that, you should appreciate it.”“Harry and me had a very good friendship,” he said. “We played together in PSL. Anyone who plays an innings like that, you should appreciate it,” he added.

Brook’s hundred at Pallekele was not merely a match-winning knock. It was a captain’s innings played under pressure on a difficult surface, and it came at the direct expense of Pakistan’s semi-final ambitions. England’s victory has sealed their place in the last-four, while Pakistan now need results elsewhere to keep their campaign alive.“These things happen in cricket,” Shaheen said, who picked up 4 for 30 against England. “But we are still in the tournament, anything can happen. We are thinking that we get this one opportunity. Firstly, we should win this match. I hope New Zealand loses their match.”The reality, however, is harsh. Pakistan’s margin for error has evaporated, and Shaheen acknowledged that their own shortcomings played a role in the defeat, particularly with the bat.

Shaheen Shah Afridi celebrates the wicket of Phil Salt during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and Pakistan in Pallekele, Sri Lanka. (AP)

“I feel on a wicket like this you need a partnership and you need somebody like a set batsman who can bat through the middle overs,” he said. “But unfortunately we lost wickets back to back, which is why we did not go for that 180 to 190 score.”That contrast was evident in Brook’s innings. While Pakistan struggled to stitch partnerships together, Brook anchored England’s chase with clarity and control.“If you see one side, Harry Brook, the way he went, wickets were falling, but he was still in the crease,” Shaheen said. “He was rotating the strike and building the partnership. I think we missed that opportunity.”Shaheen reserved special praise for Brook’s preparation and shot selection, noting that the England captain succeeded where others struggled.

England’s captain Harry Brook celebrates his century during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and Pakistan in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

“I never see a batsman (batter) like him,” he said. “Today he was properly ready for every ball to hit it. He was well prepared for us.”The admiration was not born overnight. Shaheen and Brook share a bond forged during their time together in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with the Lahore Qalandars. Shaheen recalled watching Brook long before he became a mainstay for England.“When we picked him in PSL Lahore, I don’t think he played for England at that time,” Shaheen said. “He was just playing county cricket. But he played on Asian wickets and improved a lot. Today he came at number three. You need a leader who can take responsibility in big games.”Brook’s promotion up the order did not surprise Shaheen, but the manner in which he embraced the responsibility stood out.“Not surprised actually, but the way he took that responsibility as a captain, that was the best innings he played,” Shaheen said. “It was a captain’s innings.”

Shaheen Shah Afridi celebrates a wicket during the T20 World Cup Super Eight match against England. (Getty Images)

For Shaheen himself, the match was also personal. After being left out of two games earlier in the tournament, he returned with a fiery opening spell that gave Pakistan early hope.“Yes, you said I was dropped,” Shaheen said. “But my focus was to work on my bowling, how to come back, and maintain my normal things so that I can give good results.”He dismissed any talk of having something to prove.“I don’t need to prove to anyone,” he said. “My job is whenever I have an opportunity, I will go and give 100 percent for my team.”Shaheen hits out at Hesson

Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson (R) with Shaheen Afridi during a practice session. (PTI)

Shaheen, who is Pakistan’s ODI captain also took a jibe at coach Mike Hesson’s obsession with having more all-rounders in the team. “Look, he has a mindset, he is a head coach. I think he knows better than us how to run a team. And he is responsible for that,” he said.Shaheen explained that his emphasis on bowling a consistent length was a conscious decision based on conditions.“If the wicket depends on length, why not go for length balls?” he said. “They were struggling and I was just trying to bowl the same length.”His early success, including a first-over wicket, helped him settle quickly. “Whenever I play, my job is to take wickets early,” he said. “That’s why I bowl the first over. Today I was just planning how I can take wickets.”Despite Shaheen’s burst and Pakistan’s promising start, Brook ensured that the game drifted away. His innings exposed the fine margins that now define Pakistan’s campaign. Missed partnerships, soft dismissals, and an inability to control the middle overs have left them relying on permutations rather than performances.Pakistan’s World Cup fate now rests partly in others’ hands. For England, and for Harry Brook, the night at Pallekele may be remembered as the moment a leader truly announced himself, even to those he left behind.

Here’s the full transcript of Floyd Reifer’s press conference before the South Africa vs West Indies Super 8 clash

[Reporter:]

There’s been a lot of talk about West Indies and six hitting ability in particular. Are you seeing this as a good match up in terms of the South African line up that’s in pretty good form and I mean the surface is a red soil surface so are you expecting this to be quite a high scoring six hitting contest?

[Floyd Reifer:]

Both teams hit sixes, but yeah the pitch once the wicket is good then you expect a good batting performance from both of the teams. I think the main thing for us is trying to score as many balls as possible. Yes we know we hit sixes, we hit fours but for us is to score as many deliveries as possible.

[Reporter:]

Came in with a lot to say about 10 years on and maybe people not expecting them to be as good as they’ve been or point to prove or something like that. I mean you’ve had some amazing wins and on the cusp of a semi-final. Do you feel like the point’s been proved or are there still points to prove?

[Floyd Reifer:]

There’s no point to prove for us and we came here like any other team to win the competition, a lot of people have us flying under the radar but we plan every game to go in there with a positive mentality to win cricket games.

[Reporter:]

Many of the batsmen in your lineup were in the SA20 where they would have faced many of the South African bowlers. Has there been any specific help that some of those guys like Sherfane Rutherford or Shai Hope have given with regards to plans to specific bowlers that they faced?

[Floyd Reifer:]

We just played a series against them in South Africa. We played three games there and guys like Rutherford, Chase and skipper Shai played in the SAT20 as well. So when you play against teams in international cricket, guys know each other. They play against each other even in franchise cricket. So it’s just a matter of on the day, who plans the best on the day who executes the best on the day.

[Reporter:]

Floyd do you think it’s fair to say that there’s something about the energy and dynamic of tournaments that seems to bring the best out of West Indies. They always seem to be a threat at a tournament in a way that often they’re not in bilateral series.

[Floyd Reifer:]

Listen, our energy is great. The vibes is good within the team. Everybody’s up for it. And like I said before, we came here to win cricket games. We came here to play some good cricket and that’s what we’ve been doing so far. We’ve been planning well, batting well, bowling well, fielding well. So you have to do all three of those departments in order to win cricket games. But for us, it’s about ticking the boxes guys are enjoying playing with each other, enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying each other’s success, that’s important in a team setup.

[Reporter:]

Just the tournament dynamic, does that bring something out of your guys?

[Floyd Reifer:]

Yeah, I mean it’s a world stage, everybody wants to perform at the World Cup. This is important for guys to put in some beautiful performances at the world stage where everybody’s watching.

[Reporter:]

The turnaround time between the last game and this game is not much. And you’re also coming to a venue where you haven’t played, where South Africa have played almost all of their games in this venue except one. So what sort of challenge do you think that brings to your team’s preparation and to the goal of qualifying for the semifinals?

[Floyd Reifer:]

Yeah, they have an advantage of playing most of their games at the same venue. But like I said, once we plan properly and execute our plans, then we will play a good game of cricket. So for us, we’re not worried too much about the venues and who played there, who didn’t play there. For us, no, it’s just coming now and understanding what’s needed to be done and execute.

[Reporter:]

And also, your coach Daren had told me at the Wankhede Stadium that regardless of whatever problems there is in West Indies cricket he wants his team to play a brand of cricket that will inspire the next generation. Regardless of what happens in the tournament from here on do you think that this tournament establishes the sort of pride in the team that where you have inspired the next generation with the kind of cricket that you have played?

[Floyd Reifer:]

I think we play some good cricket and have a lot of people at home watching. Yes, I think we have inspired the next generation of cricketers. Also the people of the Caribbean are very happy with how we are playing and obviously we want to go for it in the tournament so it’s just for us to continue, like I said before, to do all the good things, make sure we tick the right boxes, make sure we plan well and execute well and they know that the Caribbean is rooting for us.

[Reporter:]

Do you see South Africa as the most balanced side in this tournament and will tomorrow’s contest be like West Indies batting and South Africa’s bowling? Do you see South Africa as the most balanced side in this tournament and can tomorrow’s contest be South Africa’s bowler versus the big hitting ability of West Indies?

[Floyd Reifer:]

All the teams are balanced teams – you come to a World Cup you have each team has quality players in it. And on the day, on the day is important, which team wants it the most, and which team executes their plans under pressure. So I would say, yes, I would say They have a balanced team, we have a balanced team as well. All the other teams have balanced teams, but it’s just a matter on the day, which team wants to execute their plans the best of their abilities.

[Reporter:]

Do you think in T20 format anchoring has a role for the batting side when they are batting. And if you think it is still there, instead of just going for – right from the first over, first ball, going bang, bang, bang, bang. If it is there, who do you have as an anchor in this current West Indian team?

[Floyd Reifer:]

To me the game has evolved. Teams are getting 220, 230 plus. So it’s just a matter of guys understanding their roles. Each person has a different role in the team to play. They have different phases in the game. You have the power player phase, then the phase after the power player, then 11 to 15, 16 to 20. So each person has a role to play in each phase of the game. So it’s just for guys to go there and play their role, execute their role in the different phases of the game.

[Reporter:]

[inaudible]

[Floyd Reifer:]

You look at our team, we have quality batters and we’re not like the other teams, we’re depending on one or two batters. If you look at our games, everybody has stepped up every game and put in performances and we’ve been consistent in doing that. And that’s a sign of a good batting team, a good batting unit.

Pakistan’s former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has offered a vivid window into the sheer intensity of 1990s India-Pakistan cricket, recalling how a private wager with Saqlain Mushtaq over Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket played out alongside knee trouble, injections and constant pressure to stay on the field. The anecdote lands as more than nostalgia because it combines three things that defined that era: the premium on Sachin’s wicket, the internal competitiveness within Pakistan’s attack, and the physical price elite bowlers were paying just to get through a series.

Akhtar’s recollection comes from Pakistan’s 1998-99 tour of India, a two-Test series that remains one of the most remembered India-Pak contests of that period. Saqlain Mushtaq was a defining figure in that tour, and the Chennai Test in particular has endured as a classic — not just for Sachin’s fourth-innings 136, but for the dramatic finish and Pakistan’s narrow win. In that context, Akhtar’s story about a bet over who would dismiss Sachin does not sound like dressing-room folklore alone. It sounds like the kind of internal challenge that naturally grew inside a high-quality attack in a series of such emotional and tactical intensity.

“When Saqlain had already got so many wickets — in Chennai and here in Delhi too — Saqlain and I made a bet. He said, I have to get Sachin out, that’s what I’ve been doing. I said, No, I’ll do it this time, it’s my turn,” said Akhtar.

That line captures the central hook. Sachin’s wicket was not just a tactical breakthrough; it was the ultimate currency of pride in that era. For bowlers sharing the same attack, getting him out was also a personal claim — a way of saying you had delivered where it mattered most.

Akhtar then moves from bravado to the physical reality, and the quote becomes even more striking. “ Fluid was being drained from my knee, and I was getting injections, just so I could play the match.”

The force of that line lies in how matter-of-factly it is delivered. Akhtar is not framing it as drama. He is describing what it took to simply remain available. It also adds an important layer to the anecdote: the competition with Saqlain was unfolding even as bodies began to give way.

He then widens the frame to include Saqlain Mushtaq’s condition too, turning the story into one of shared suffering as much as rivalry. “His knees had gone in 1996, and mine gave way in 1997 in front of him. And now both of us were secretly taking pills and injections, just to be able to play the match.”

Also Read: Shoaib Akhtar’s narrative shifts from ‘India bahar ho jaye’ to blaming Salman Agha for Pakistan’s defeat

This is where the anecdote grows beyond a Sachin-centred memory clip. It becomes a portrait of two elite bowlers trying to outdo each other while also enduring pain. The image Akhtar paints is not of comfort or bravado alone, but of compromise, recovery and survival in the middle of one of cricket’s most emotionally loaded rivalries.

He closes by describing the pressure that surrounded fitness and selection, especially when one injury could alter the balance of a series. “If one of us went out of the series, then Saqi would be out too, and I was already under the gun anyway — like, don’t let this one go.”

The idiom “under the gun” is best understood here as being under intense pressure, and it rounds off the quote by reinforcing what runs through the entire recollection: in that period, against India, performance, fitness and reputation were inseparable. A wicket, an injury, a spell, a missed chance — each carried consequences beyond the scoreboard.

That is what makes Shoaib Akhtar’s recollection so compelling. On the surface, it is a story about a bet with Saqlain to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar. In substance, it is a reminder of how, at its peak, India-Pakistan cricket could turn even an internal team rivalry into a test of ego, endurance and survival.