RAWALPINDI – Pakistan captain Sahibzada Farhan on Tuesday broke India opener Abhishek Sharma’s record for the most runs scored in a three-match bilateral T20 International (T20I) series between two full-member nations.

Farhan, who was appointed Pakistan’s full-time T20I captain ahead of the series against Sri Lanka, made a memorable start to his first home assignment as skipper by scoring half-centuries in all three matches.

The right-handed batter amassed 238 runs at an impressive average of 79.33 and a strike rate of 165.27, earning the Player of the Series award.

With this achievement, Farhan surpassed Abhishek Sharma’s previous record of 229 runs in a three-match bilateral T20I series between full-member nations. The Indian opener set the benchmark during India’s home series against Afghanistan earlier this year, scoring at an average of 76.33, including a century and a half-century.

Farhan began the Sri Lanka series with a match-winning knock of 89 off 53 balls, striking 10 fours and four sixes. His innings helped Pakistan chase down a target of 183 and secure a four-wicket victory.

The 30-year-old continued his outstanding form in the second match, scoring 73 off just 44 deliveries. His contribution helped Pakistan post a massive total of 215 for three wickets. Sri Lanka managed only 133 for seven in their 20 overs, handing Pakistan a series-clinching victory.

Farhan maintained his consistency in the final match, smashing 76 off 47 balls to help Pakistan set a competitive total against Sri Lanka. However, his efforts could not prevent a defeat as the visitors successfully chased down the target to claim a consolation victory.

Despite Pakistan losing the final match, Farhan’s remarkable consistency across the series secured him the record and the Player of the Series honour.

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A 2,500-seat stadium in suburban Nagoya has become the unlikely setting for one of sport’s most combustible rivalries — and a glimpse of cricket’s growing reach beyond its traditional heartlands.

There are few sporting rivalries capable of transporting an entire stadium thousands of miles away from home. On Saturday, India and Pakistan managed precisely that — turning a modest Japanese baseball facility into an arena charged with all the anticipation, colour and emotion normally associated with the great cricket grounds of South Asia.

The setting could hardly have been more incongruous. The Asian Games final was being staged at Korogi Athletic Park in Nisshin, near Nagoya, a purpose-built cricket venue with capacity for only about 2,500 spectators. Beyond the boundary stood the unmistakable features of a Japanese baseball ground, including a pitcher’s mound.

Yet for those inside, this was no novelty fixture.

Hours before the first ball, Indian and Pakistani supporters were queuing to enter. Flags were draped over shoulders, shirts provided the national colours and tickets had become sufficiently scarce to generate reports of inflated resale prices. For many members of the South Asian communities living in Japan, the occasion represented a rare chance to see the two countries meet in person.

That matters because India-Pakistan cricket is not simply another international sporting contest. Political tensions mean that the teams generally encounter each other only in major tournaments, making every meeting an event in its own right. Their February T20 World Cup encounter in Sri Lanka was played before a sell-out crowd of 35,000; television audiences in the two countries routinely run into the hundreds of millions.

Japan therefore found itself hosting one of cricket’s most valuable commodities: scarcity.

For Japanese spectators, meanwhile, the spectacle offered an introduction to a sport that remains distinctly niche in the country. Some had attended earlier matches simply out of curiosity. Teachers from nearby Gifu admitted that they knew virtually nothing about cricket, but found themselves enjoying the experience after reading explanatory material and watching the action.

The comparison with baseball is inevitable. Japan possesses one of the world’s great baseball cultures, while cricket remains a relative outsider. But the recent arrival of India has provided an intriguing bridge between the two.

Last week, Japan played India in its first-ever T20 international against a full-member cricket nation. The hosts came within two runs of a remarkable victory in a rain-shortened five-over contest, giving Japanese cricket precisely the sort of exposure its administrators could scarcely have manufactured themselves.

The significance extends beyond the scoreboard.

India’s appearance in Japan was linked to the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries, while the Asian Games have provided an unusually prominent platform for cricket. The sport is already established among expatriate communities, but encounters involving India’s global stars can introduce it to an entirely new audience.

That is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Saturday’s extraordinary scene. Cricket did not need to conquer Japan overnight. It merely needed to persuade a few thousand people to come and watch.

And India versus Pakistan is perhaps the ultimate sales pitch.

The match was always going to generate passion. What nobody could have guaranteed was that the passion would survive the journey from the packed stadiums of Colombo and Mumbai to a small baseball field outside Nagoya.

It did.

The geography changed. The rivalry did not.

Main Image: By 運動会プロテインパワー – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112511600

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has decided to resign from the Pakistan Cricket Board’s selection committee, sources close to the former cricketer said Tuesday. The sources said Misbah has informed the PCB of his decision and will serve a notice period before formally stepping down from the role. The development comes a day after the ... Read more

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