LAHORE: Sahibzada Farhan became the first batter to score two centuries in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and Fakhar Zaman struck a swashbuckling half-century, but their efforts went in vain as Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals despite defeating Sri Lanka by five runs in Pallekele on Saturday.

Farhan scored a 60-ball 100 with nine fours and five sixes, and Fakhar stroked a 42-ball 84 with nine fours and four sixes as the two put on 176 runs for the first wicket in 95 balls. However, the middle and lower-order batters committed hara-kiri and failed to capitalise on the solid foundation set by Farhan and Fakhar when they managed only 36 runs in the remaining 25 deliveries to finish at 212 for eight.

Pakistan needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or less, but sloppy fielding and a below-par bowling performance let the home side finish at 207 for six after reaching 148 for five in 15.5 overs. This was Sri Lanka’s highest score after having managed 95 and 107-8 in the previous two matches against England and New Zealand, respectively.

The result in the final Super Eight Stage Group 2 match means New Zealand will now feature in the Kolkata semi-final. The elimination of Pakistan and Sri Lanka also confirmed that the final will be held in Ahmedabad. England had qualified for the Mumbai semi-final earlier in the week.

This was the second successive time Pakistan had failed to qualify for the knock-out stage after having faltered in the first round of the 2024 tournament. Pakistan had started the decade impressively by reaching back-to-back semi-finals in 2021 and 2022. In fact, in 2022, they had played in the final at the G in Melbourne against England.

While the story of the match was Sahibzada Farhan, who aggregated 383 runs – most by any batter in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup – Pakistan team management’s strategy and batters’ lack of game awareness became the key topic of debate.

After Pakistan had reached 176 for one in 15.5 overs, captain Salman Ali Agha, who bats at No.3 because of his boundary-hitting abilities, didn’t come out to bat until the fall of the fourth wicket at the total of 199 in 18.2 overs. Separately, Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Nawaz, instead of rotating the strike to Sahibzada Farhan, tried to play big shots and perished.

Farhan, in contrast, faced just seven balls and scored 11 runs following the departure of Fakhar before becoming the sixth batter to be dismissed at the total of 203 in 19.1 overs.

Pakistan batters were so confused and disorganised that they could collect only seven runs in the 17th over, 14 runs in the 18th over, five runs in the 19th over and nine runs in the 20th and final over.

While Pakistan must be rueing missed opportunities with the bat during the innings break, their progression chances were further dented by poor fielding when a couple of catches went down, two run-out opportunities were missed and a few additional runs were conceded.

The bowlers also failed to come to the party as their key bowlers failed to leave an impact on the Sri Lanka batters.

Usman Tariq was the most unimpressive Pakistan bowler with none for 43 from four overs, Naseem Shah conceded 36 runs from his four overs and picked up one wicket, while Shadab Khan conceded 33 runs from his two overs, including 18 runs in his second over and 19th of Sri Lanka’s innings when 46 runs were required.

Abrar Ahmed kept Pakistan in the game when he picked up three wickets for 23 runs. Shaheen Shah Afridi collected two wickets but gave away 48 runs, including 22 runs in the final over after 28 runs were required in the last over.

Earlier, Pakistan made three changes to the side that shared points with New Zealand after the game was washed out following a toss, but without a ball being bowled. Saim Ayub, Babar Azam and Salman Mirza were left out and Abrar Ahmed, Khawaja Nafay and Naseem Shah were included.

Scores in brief:

Super Eight Stage Group 2 – Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by five runs

PAKISTAN 212-8, 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 100, Fakhar Zaman 84; Dilshan Madushanka 3-33)

SRI LANKA 207-6, 20 overs (Dasun Shanaka 76 not out, Ravan Rathnayake 58, Kamil Mishara 26, Charith Asalanka 25; Abrar Ahmed 3-23, Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-48)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH – Sahibzada Farhan (Pakistan)