For every Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen or Graham Thorpe, there have been far more troubled by the tweakers. England beat Sri Lanka by 51 runs on Sunday, meaning victory against Pakistan on Tuesday will secure a place in the semi-finals, but the issue that has dogged their batting throughout this T20 World Cup did not go away. Four of England's top five were out to spinners. And Pakistan used six different spinners in their match against India earlier in the tournament. which has Usman Tariq, [Mohammad] Nawaz, Shadab [Khan], even Abrar [Ahmed] is one of the top spinners.

Source: BBC February 23, 2026 22:01 UTC