COLOMBO: Pakistan’s aggressive opener Sahibzada Farhan has become the second Pakistani batsman in history to score a century in the ICC T20 World Cup.
Sahibzada Farhan scored 100 runs without being dismissed during an important group-stage match against Namibia. This marks his first T20 International century and makes him the second Pakistani to achieve the feat after Ahmed Shehzad who scored a century against Bangladesh in the 2014 T20 World Cup.
The ongoing 2026 T20 World Cup has produced three centuries through this match. Pathum Nissanka of Sri Lanka scored a century against Australia and Uvaraj Samra of Canada achieved one against New Zealand. No prior T20 World Cup edition had seen more than two centuries.
The audience recognized Farhan’s performance as he successfully balanced his batting style to secure Pakistan’s group stage victory.
T20 World Cup: Pakistan defeat Namibia in dominant display
Eaarlier, Pakistan defeated Namibia by 102 runs in the 35th match of the T20 World Cup played in Colombo to advance to the Super Eight stage. Namibia were bowled out for just 87 runs in pursuit of the target of 200 runs set by Pakistan.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub opened the innings, but both struggled in the early overs. Pakistan lost their first wicket for 40 runs in 5.1 overs when Saim Ayub was caught for 14 runs.
After this, Captain Salman Ali Agha put up a good partnership with Sahibzada Farhan and took the team to 100 runs. The second wicket fell in 12.1 overs when Salman Ali Agha was dismissed for 38 runs.
In the last overs, Shadab Khan and Sahibzada Farhan remained at the crease, and Sahibzada Farhan completed his magnificent century. Pakistan scored 199 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Sahibzada Farhan scored 100 runs off 58 balls, and Shadab Khan scored 36 runs off 22 balls to remain unbeaten.
Speaking in Colombo before the match, captain Salman Ali Agha said that there is no pressure on the team, the players are fully prepared for the match and showed a good performance in the match against the USA.
Two changes were also made in the Pakistan team today. Salman Mirza and Khawaja Nafay were included in the team in place of Shaheen Afridi and Abrar Ahmed.
