COLOMBO: Pakistan secured a tremendous 32-run victory against the United States on Tuesday, driven by a strong collective effort from the entire team, ARY News reported.
The win was anchored by Sahibzada Farhan’s brilliant knock of 73 runs, which provided the backbone of the Pakistani innings.
The USA have won the toss opted to field first.
Pakistan set a formidable target of 190 runs for the USA. In response, the American side managed to score 158 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted overs.
Shubham Ranjane led the American chase with a half-century, scoring 51 runs, while Shayan Jahangir contributed a solid 49.
On the bowling front, Pakistan’s Usman Tariq was the standout performer, claiming three wickets. Shadab Khan picked up two, while Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, and Shaheen Shah Afridi chipped in with one wicket apiece to secure the victory.
Earlier, Sahibazad Farhan’s gutsy knock ably supported by Babar Azam and a late cameo from Shadab Khan took Pakistan to a strong total against USA in the 12th fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 here at the Sinhaleese Sports Club on Tuesday.
Asked to bat first, Pakistan piled up 190-9 in their 20 overs.
Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan provided a strong start with a 54-run partnership in 5.1 overs.
However, USA quickly turned the momentum back with back-to-back wickets. Saim was the first to go, scoring 19 from 17 with the help of two sixes. The second one was skipper Salman Ali Agha, losing his wicket on the final ball of the powerplay.
The right-hander only managed one from three balls.
As a result, Pakistan were 56 at the end of the powerplay with Babar Azam and Sahibzada Farhan at the crease.
The pair launched a recovery as USA bowled a few tight overs to restrict the new batter Babar Azam from going big.
Pakistan’s scorecard read 85-2 at the halfway mark of the innings.
After a slowdown, Sahibzada and Babar soon took advantage of Harmeet Singh’s 12th over. The pair accumulated 21 runs from the over to boost the run-rate and took the score from 101 to 122.
Babar Azam finally finds his groove, hitting six and two boundaries in the over to take his runs tally to 32.
However, USA made a comeback in the 15th over as Babar departed after scoring 46 from 32 balls. In the next over, Harmeet nabbed Farhan as USA made a strong comeback.
Sahibzad top-scored with 73 from 41 balls, laced with six fours and five sixes.
Consequently, Pakistan were reduced to 145-4 in 16 overs.
After a brief slowdown, Shadab Khan played a blinder to lift their hopes of reaching the 200-run mark. He made 30 off just 12 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six.
USA bowled well in the final two overs as Pakistan slumped from 177-5 to 190-9 at the end of their innings.
For USA, Shadley van Schalkwyk remained the standout bowler with four wickets to his name.