T20 World Cup 2026: Sahibzada Farhan creates history by doing what Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma couldn’t

Pakistan might not be the team that it used to be once when it comes to competing against India in the biggest cricketing rivalry. But their opener Sahibzada Farhan achieved a feat which no Indian opener, not even greats of the game like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, has so far in the 19-year-old history of the T20 World Cup.

The right-handed batter hit a ton and became the second Pakistani to score a century in T20 World Cups. He is also the second Pakistani opener to do so, behind Ahmed Shehzad, who had achieved the feat in 2014.

As a result of the Farhan century, Pakistan have two openers smashing centuries in T20 World Cup history; no Indian opener has done it, not even some of the modern-day heroes of the game — Kohli and Rohit, who have opened the innings for the Indian team in the T20 World Cups.

Sahibzada Farhan smashes century against Namibia

Playing for the Men in Green in a do-or-die encounter against Namibia at the SSC Ground in Colombo, Farhan looked solid right from the start. Even as the Pakistani side lost wickets at regular intervals, the right-handed batter kept going, scoring at a strike rate of nearly 200.

Eventually, he reached his century in 58 balls, after slowing down a bit at the end. With this, he became the 14th batter in the history of the World Cups to smash a century, joining an elite club featuring the likes of Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, and Jos Buttler to name a few.

Table- All The T20 World Cup Centuries

What’s the highest score by an Indian opener in T20 World Cups?

The record for the highest score by an Indian opener stays with Rohit Sharma for now. He had scored 92 against Australia in the 2024 edition of the World Cup, which India had gone on to win eventually. Recently, in the match against Pakistan, Ishan Kishan threatened to become the first Indian opener to score a century but fell at 77 off just 40 balls. 

Table- Highest Scores By Indian Openers T20 World Cups