ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 35: Namibia vs Pakistan | Preview and Predictions

After their loss to arch-rivals India, Pakistan will be looking to get back to winning ways and also secure their spot in the Super Eights as they get ready to take on Namibia. Namibia meanwhile have been knocked out and will look to round out their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with a strong performance and surprise win. 

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the 35th game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 between Namibia and Pakistan.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 35: NAM vs PAK | 15:00, February 18, 2026 

Pakistan imploded against India as their batters gave away the game in a steep chase early on. Their skipper Salman Ali Agha, will be disappointed in himself and his top order, they way they threw their wickets and Agha will hope his batters apply themselves more against Namibia and get back amongst the runs. Barring Sahibzada Farhan’s 73 against the USA, the Pakistani batters have failed to put up a substantial score on board and they will hope to close out their Group Stage by getting some runs under their belt before moving deeper into the event. Pakistan have deployed a near-full spin attack with Shaheen Shah Afridi being the only pacer in the last two games. Saim Ayub has been a revelation with the new ball and picked up three big wickets against India and has provided his captain an added bowling option. The spin attack of Usman Tariq, Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and even Agha himself have been doing the heavy lifting and will be key for the Pakistan team. 

Namibia have lost all three of their games and are out of contention to make the Super Eights but can spoil Pakistan’s party if they pick up a big upset. There hasn’t been anything special with the bat for Namibia with the top order scoring most of the runs for the team. Louren Steenkamp got their first half-century of the tournament against USA but other than that there has been nothing substantial from the batters, something Gerhard Erasmus will hope his batters rectify before leaving Sri Lanka.

There has not been much from the bowlers, for Namibia, either as barring Erasmus’ 4 wicket haul against India, the bowlers haven’t been able to provide the breakthroughs for Namibia. While there has been no breakthroughs regularly, Namibia’s bowlers have also leaked runs, conceding above 150 in all of their games, in what has otherwise been a relatively low scoring tournament.

While Pakistan weren’t at their best against India, they start as the favourites in this encounter and the SSC ground like most of the grounds in the tournament is one that will favour the slower bowlers and spinners with some runs on offer for the batters. 

Fantasy XI: Saim Ayub (c), Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Babar Azam (vc), Gerhard Erasmus, Usman Khan (wk), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Tariq, Bernard Scholtz

Venue: Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo

Winners Prediction: Pakistan