Pakistan won the T20I series 2-1. The scoreline flatters them in one direction and undersells them in another — and the real story of three nights in Rawalpindi is not the result but what it revealed about who this white-ball side is becoming.
By Asher Butt
There is a version of this series that writes itself cleanly. Pakistan won 2-1 under a new captain, posted their second-highest T20I total at home, gave meaningful opportunities to several new faces, and did all of it in front of a record crowd of 17,535 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Sahibzada Farhan struck three consecutive half-centuries across three matches as captain. Muhammad Imran, playing his second T20I, returned figures of 4-0-11-3 in the second match that were so frugal they felt almost fictional. Maaz Sadaqat hit 50 in the first match and 96 in the second, playing innings of such controlled aggression that he narrowly missed becoming only the second Pakistan batter to score a T20I century at home.
That version of events is true. It is also incomplete. Because in the same series, Pakistan’s middle order collapsed so thoroughly in the third match — sliding from 34 for 0 to 34 for 2 in four deliveries, then losing further wickets at regular intervals to limp to 168 for 8 — that a target Sri Lanka chased with 17 balls to spare. And the bowling attack that demolished Sri Lanka for 133 in the second match found no traction whatsoever in the third, conceding 172 for 2 in a reply that Kusal Mendis managed with the relaxed authority of a man completing a training exercise.
Both versions are Pakistan. That has always been the most accurate thing that can be said about this team.
The first match: Farhan announces himself
The first T20I was a creditable win built on a foundation that Pakistan’s recent white-ball cricket has too rarely offered: a substantial opening partnership and a composed middle-order contribution that gave the chase real momentum.
Sri Lanka’s 182 for 8 was built almost entirely by Lahiru Udara, whose 91 off 55 balls was a remarkable innings of sustained aggression. That Pakistan’s bowlers kept Sri Lanka to a competitive rather than commanding total — Naseem Shah’s three wickets and Mohammad Imran’s debut two for 21 were the highlights — was a useful containment effort against an in-form opener. The 18 wides conceded, however, were an early indication of the control issues that would resurface in the third match.
Farhan’s 89 off 53 balls in the chase was the innings of a player who understood the assignment completely — aggressive from the first delivery, decisive in his shot selection, and intelligent about managing the partnerships around him. His 92-run second-wicket stand with Maaz (50 off 29) was the partnership that won the match. Maaz’s debut half-century, combining clean hitting with a strike rate of 172, announced a batter whose instincts suit the format instinctively.
The second match: A statement of possible
The second T20I deserves its own paragraph in Pakistan’s recent white-ball history. Pakistan posted 215 for 3 — their second-highest T20I total ever, highest at home, first ever 200-plus at Rawalpindi — and bowled Sri Lanka out for 133. It was, in the simplest terms, complete cricket: a batting performance of exceptional quality followed by a bowling display of sustained pressure.
Maaz’s 96 off 51 balls was the innings of the series. Seven sixes — equalling the Pakistan record for a single T20I innings — combined with the technical discipline of a batter who rarely gave his wicket away cheaply. That Eshan Malinga denied him the century off the final ball with only five runs from the over is one of those cruel cricket endings that will frustrate Maaz for years. At 92 off 46 entering the last over, the century was his to lose and he nearly didn’t.
Farhan’s 73 off 44 in the same innings — his second consecutive fifty — confirmed this is not a one-match wonder. He is batting with the clarity and authority of a captain who has found the form of his life at the moment the responsibility was handed to him.
Muhammad Imran’s 4-0-11-3 in Sri Lanka’s chase was extraordinary. Eleven runs from four overs in a T20 match is not merely excellent — it is historically unusual. His economy rate of 2.75 in the format where economy rates below six are considered respectable tells its own story. He bowled his four overs on the trot, took two wickets in consecutive balls in the eighth over, and nearly completed a hat-trick. At just his second T20I appearance, he looks like the fast-bowling find Pakistan’s white-ball attack has been seeking.
The third match: The questions return
And then came Tuesday.
Maaz Sadaqat, who had scored 50 in the first match and 96 in the second, was out for 0 in the third. Fakhar Zaman, who had contributed solid starts in the first two matches, departed for 12. Pakistan lost both in the fourth over, leaving their captain to hold together an innings that was increasingly dependent on his own imperviousness. He did — 76 off 47 balls, three sixes, seven fours, the innings of a leader dragging a collapsing structure upright by force of will — before falling on the penultimate delivery to leave Pakistan at 168 for 8.
The number was competitive rather than commanding. Against a Sri Lanka side containing Kusal Mendis in his current form, competitive was never going to be enough. Mendis’s 87 not out off 48 balls was the mirror image of Pakistan’s second-match authority — composed, punishing, utterly in control. His 98-run unbroken third-wicket stand with Kamindu (40 not out) closed the chase with 17 balls unused.
Pakistan’s bowling attack, which had Mohammed Imran among the wicketers again, could not replicate the second match’s precision. Salman Mirza went for 40 in three overs. Razaullah for 37 from 3.1. The margin of 82 runs from Tuesday had become a margin of 8 wickets by Tuesday.
The verdict: Farhan’s captaincy, Imran’s debut, and one persistent worry
Sahibzada Farhan was the player of the series — three consecutive half-centuries as captain, a strike rate above 165 across three matches, and the ability to anchor and accelerate depending on what the innings required. He is the most consistent white-ball performer Pakistan have produced in this format in some time, and the captaincy appears to have settled something in him rather than burdened him. That is a rare and valuable quality.
Muhammad Imran’s emergence is the genuinely exciting development of the series. In two T20I matches, he has taken five wickets at an average below 7 and an economy rate below 5. The third match’s figures were less striking but his first-over breakthrough — trapping Lahiru Udara, the man who had scored 91 in the first match — showed that his performance in the second match was not an aberration. He is a fast bowler with line, length, and the ability to move the ball at pace. Pakistan need those attributes.
Maaz Sadaqat showed in two matches and a duck that he is a match-winner when in form and a liability when not — which is true of most T20 specialists but bears watching as the format’s demands evolve.
The persistent worry, visible throughout this series despite the 2-1 scoreline, is the fragility of the batting structure below Farhan. When he and the top two are firing, Pakistan are capable of 215. When they are not, 168 with eight wickets down is the floor. In the knockout rounds of the ODI tri-series with England and Sri Lanka that now follows, that floor may not hold.
The series is won. The questions, as always with Pakistan, travel with them to the next venue.
Pakistan won the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka 2-1, with all three matches played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Sahibzada Farhan was named player of the series. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England now contest an ODI tri-series beginning 18 October in Rawalpindi, with the final scheduled for 31 October at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
