Sahibzada Farhan’s 41-ball 73 and Usman Tariq’s three wickets powered Pakistan to a 32-run win over the United States in a Group A T20 World Cup clash at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Farhan hammered five sixes and six fours, with Babar Azam supporting his assault with a brisk 46 off 32 balls that kept the scoreboard moving.
Farhan crossed 1,000 T20 international runs in his 41st match before he was caught in the covers off spinner Harmeet Singh in the 16th over. Pakistan posted 190, a total that proved defendable thanks to Tariq’s breakthroughs. The spinner’s three-wicket haul dented the US chase at crucial stages, helping Pakistan claim their second win in as many games after Saturday’s tight victory over the Netherlands.
The result also offered some respite ahead of Pakistan’s high-octane showdown with arch-rivals India in Colombo on Sunday — a fixture only cleared by the Pakistan government after an earlier boycott threat.
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After being named Player of the Match, Sahibzada Farhan said: “We’ll go in with the same mindset as we did in our previous matches against India, including the Asia Cup. We’ll try to stay positive and play attacking cricket.”
He added: “The ball was coming onto my bat well in the nets. I told our batting coach I was feeling good for today’s match. I even said I will finish the match in a way that earns me the player-of-the-match award. I’ve set a target to win two or three such awards in this World Cup.”
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Pakistan captain Salman Agha praised the overall display but urged improvement. “We are Pakistan, we do things differently to the world. It was a clinical performance as we batted well to post 190 and we knew we could defend that,” he said. “There is always room for improvement — we’d like to bowl better in the powerplay before the next game.” The team will regroup and prepare.
