Sahibzada ton, bowlers lift Pakistan into Super Eights
Pakistan rode on Sahibzada Farhan's scintillating, maiden hundred and their spinners’ excellent display to beat Namibia by a handsome margin of 102 runs and enter the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday. Batting first, Pakistan posted a formidable 199 for three in their must-win game.
Farhan, who needed just 20 deliveries to move from 50 to 100, ended on 100 not out off 58 balls, becoming only the second player from Pakistan to score a century in the tournament after Ahmed Shehzad’s ton against Bangladesh in 2014 at Mirpur. In all, Farhan hit 11 boundaries and four sixes while adding 67 runs with skipper Salman Agha (38 off 23 balls) and 81 runs with Shadab Khan (36 not out off 22 balls).
In reply, Namibia were all out for 97 in 17.3 overs with mystery spinner Usman Tariq (4/16 in 3.3 overs) and leg-spinner Shadab Khan (3/19 in 4 overs) leading Pakistan’s charge with the ball, picking up four and three wickets respectively. Salman Mirza and Mohammad Nawaz chipped in with a wicket each as Namibia fared miserably in the chase to finish their campaign winless after four outings.
With this win, Pakistan have also ensured their qualification to the next edition of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2028. This is also Pakistan’s biggest margin of victory in the T20 showpiece. Earlier, Pakistan managed 47 runs in the powerplay for the loss of Saim Ayub’s (14 off 12 balls) wicket.
Seeking to recover from the heavy defeat to traditional rivals India, Pakistan strengthened their batting with the inclusion of Khawaja Nafay in the middle order while leaving out the woefully out-of-sorts pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi. While the team did get the occasional boundaries, their approach was far from ideal as they resorted to defensive batting, which pretty much explained why they were 55 for one after overs at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
However, skipper Salman Agha broke the shackles at the start of the ninth overs with a six off Willem Myburgh, the batter coming down the track to smack one over long-on. Taking a cue from his captain, Farhan launched into leg-spinner Myburgh for a big six over deep mid-wicket, and then, sent his tossed up googly soaring over the same region in a similar fashion, using the slog sweep to good effect on both occasion.
The three sixes in one over gave Pakistan’s run rate a boost and Salman Agha then lofted Bernard Scholtz straight down the ground for another maximum. However, Agha was out caught by Gerhard Erasmus off Brassell in the next over. Picked for this game, Nafay began with a boundary after he rocked back to cut the ball through backward point. Nafay’ brief stay though was cut short when he was caught and bowled by Namibian skipper Erasmus.
Meanwhile, Farhan continued to spearhead Pakistan’s batting, cutting, pulling and driving with finesse to dominate Namibian bowlers. Shadab ended the Pakistan innings with a couple of sixes against Erasmus in the last over. The total proved to be more than sufficient for Pakistan. Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan, right, celebrates his century during the T20 World Cup cricket match between Namibia and Pakistan in, Sri Lanka.
