Farhan’s century fires Pakistan into Super 8s

Men’s T20 World Cup, Group A, Colombo

Pakistan 199-3 (20 overs): Farhan 100* (58); Brassell 2-48

Namibia 97 all out (17.3 overs): Steenkamp 23 (22); Tariq 4-16

Pakistan won by 102 runs

Pakistan booked their place in the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup with a dominant victory over Namibia.

Opener Sahibzada Farhan set up the win with a sparkling 58-ball century before the Pakistan bowlers got to work, bowling out the associate nation for just 97.

Victory means Pakistan join India in qualifying from Group A, and eliminates both United States and the Netherlands.

Farhan, 29, has enjoyed a reasonably impressive competition so far – hitting 47 against the Netherlands and 73 against the USA, though he did register a duck against India in Pakistan’s last outing.

Here, though, he was back to his best – dominating on the back foot and plundering so many of his runs through the leg side.

He was particularly dismissive of WP Myburgh, swiping the leg-spinner for two towering sixes over cow corner. He also took a liking to Jack Brassell’s medium pace, striking 30 off 13 deliveries against him as Pakistan went through the gears.

He was well supported by Shadab Khan, who hit 36 off 22 balls to lift Pakistan to 199-3.

Namibia never got going with the bat, despite Louren Steenkamp’s 23.