An Oddsworth Opinion
The two low scores behind Sahibzada Farhan's captaincy debut
The story
Sahibzada Farhan marked his first match as Pakistan captain with 89, sharing an aggressive stand with Maaz Sadaqat as Pakistan chased down 183 against Sri Lanka with seven balls to spare in the first T20I. Lahiru Udara's 91 had set the target, and the series now moves on to Rawalpindi.
The Times of India · 9 October at 18:32 BSTMatch-winner on captaincy debut! Farhan leads Pak to stunning chase vs Sri LankaRead the full storyA new captain who walks out to open with scores of 1 and 10 behind him from his last two internationals is carrying more than the toss, and Sahibzada Farhan carried it to 89 off 53 balls, taking Pakistan past Sri Lanka's 183 with seven balls to spare and Maaz Sadaqat for company. Set beside the two years before it, the armband is the smallest part of the story.
Over the last two years in men's T20 cricket Farhan has averaged 33.04, where a top-seven batter averages 23.58, and he has scored quicker than that company too. An 89 sits near the top of what he does, his career best being 106 not out, but the opener who produced it was already there before the toss.
The month before the armband
The case for a captain's miracle rests on the lean stretch just before it. Seven innings for Dambulla Sixers in July and August brought one score of note, a 74 off 45 balls against Kandy Royals, and nothing else higher than 24, and the two internationals that followed were worse still: 1 off 4 balls against Bangladesh and 10 off 11 against India. That is an opener getting out cheaply week after week, and the 89 against Sri Lanka was his first half-century since the 74 in July. A slump of that kind ends with one long innings or it ends with a dropped player, and he found the long innings.
Career average 30.6
Who he did it against
Our ratings rank Sri Lanka seventh of ten men's T20 sides, with Pakistan fifth. Their recent run says less for them than the rating does: three straight defeats to England in September, a loss by 124 runs to India this month, and wins in their last ten T20s only over West Indies and Bangladesh. Lahiru Udara's 91 built the total, and a side in that form was defending it.
- LPakistanLost by 5 runs v Pakistan, 2026-02-28
- LWest IndiesLost by 7 wickets v West Indies, 2026-06-11
- WWest IndiesWon by 37 runs v West Indies, 2026-06-13
- LWest IndiesLost by 5 wickets v West Indies, 2026-06-14
- LEnglandLost by 119 runs v England, 2026-09-15
- LEnglandLost by 6 wickets v England, 2026-09-17
- LEnglandLost by 8 wickets v England, 2026-09-19
- LIndiaLost by 124 runs v India, 2026-10-01
- WBangladeshWon by 63 runs v Bangladesh, 2026-10-03
- LPakistanLost by 4 wickets v Pakistan, 2026-10-09
What the 89 settles
Our ratings in the franchise leagues have him modestly placed, worth about 0.75 runs a match more than an average batter in the PSL, the BPL and the LPL, a long way below what his international record over the same two years would suggest. The captaincy was a reward for those runs above the going rate, and the 89 was that record making its case on the night it was needed most. Judged as an opener who happens to carry the toss, Farhan's 89 was the least surprising thing about the night.