Several records were broken as Pakistan took on Sri Lanka in a crucial T20 World Cup Super 8 game in Pallekele on Saturday (February 28).
After Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka chose to bat first, Pakistan needed to post a big total to stand a chance of making the semi-finals, and they did exactly that. The management rung a few changes well, with Saim Ayub, Babar Azam and Salman Mirza dropped for Khawaja Nafay, Abrar Ahmed and Naseem Shah.
Records tumble in Pakistan-Sri Lanka thriller
Fakhar Zaman was pushed to open the innings with Sahibzada Farhan, and the duo took the Sri Lankan bowlers to the cleaners, accumulating 176 runs for the opening wicket – the highest for any wicket in T20 World Cup history, beating Finn Allen and Tim Seifert’s record of 175 runs scored earlier in the tournament against the UAE.
Super 8 - Match 10, Sri Lanka vs Pakistan
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Fakhar was dismissed 16 short of a ton, while Sahibzada went on to complete his hundred off 59 deliveries, becoming the first batter to score two centuries in an edition of the T20 World Cup. He had previously scored 100* against Namibia. Fakhar Zaman's four sixes in the game took him past Mohammad Rizwan as the player with the most sixes for Pakistan in T20I cricket.
The opener also went past Virat Kohli’s tally of the most runs scored in a T20 World Cup (319 runs), getting to 383 by the end of his innings. His five maximums in the innings took him to 18 sixes hit in the ongoing tournament: the most sixes hit by a batter in an edition of the 20-over World Cup. He overtook Shimron Hetmyer, who has 17 sixes to his name so far this year; he could yet pull ahead.
Pakistan suffered a mini-collapse to end their innings, managing just 35 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the last four overs. They still finished on 212-8, the team's highest total in T20 World Cups, and their second-highest total in all T20Is. 212 is also the highest total posted against Sri Lanka in T20 World Cups.
Pakistan needed to stop Sri Lanka at 147 or earlier to improve their net run rate and move above New Zealand in the Group 2 table to book a semi-final spot. But it wasn't to be as Sri Lanka crossed the 147-run mark in the 16th over to knock Pakistan out of the tournament. England and New Zealand qualified for the semi-finals from Group 2.
Sri Lanka eventually finished on 207-6, the highest T20 World Cup total against Pakistan, to lose by just five runs. Dasun Shanaka's stunning 76 off 31, including 20 runs in the last over was what finally pushed them up there. His knock included eight maximums, the most sixes in a T20I innings for Sri Lanka. Shanaka also became the first Sri Lankan to hit 100 sixes in T20 internationals.
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