Sahibzada ton, bowlers lift Pak into Super Eights

Colombo: 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 here 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.