Opener Fakhar Zaman set a record for the fastest century by a Pakistani batter in ODI World Cup history on Saturday in Bengaluru. Against New Zealand, in the 20th over of Pakistan’s 402-run chase, the left-hander reached his century off 63 balls. Zaman pulled off 126 runs off 81 balls with a praiseworthy strike rate of 155. He reached this target with the help of eleven sixes and eight fours.

Fakhar surpassed Imran Nazir’s record, who had previously held the record for the fastest World Cup century by a Pakistani batter with a 95-ball century against Zimbabwe in 2007 at Kingston.

Fakhar also surpassed Nazir’s mark for the most sixes hit by a Pakistani player in a World Cup innings. Nazir had made 160 against Zimbabwe off 121 balls, hitting eight sixes.

Fakhar Zaman was benched for the most part of the World Cup 2023. He opened the match against Nederland, in which he only made 12 runs. Considering this poor form by the opener, the management decided to bench him for the rest of the matches. During the toss against Sri Lanka, Pakistani skipper Babar Azam verified Fakhar’s exclusion.

He went on to explain the unexpected call, stating that the management had excluded Fakhar because the top order had been underperforming for some time. It was only after 5 matches when he returned to the pitch and smashed a good 81 runs against Bangladesh with a commendable strike rate of 109 becoming the man of the match.

After losing 4 games back to back, Pakistan attained a win against Bangladesh on Tuesday, reviving their hopes of World Cup semifinals. With yet another win against New Zealand, the men in green are fighting hard for the 4th spot in points table. Pakistan triumphed by 21 runs by DLS method.

Currently, Pakistan is at the fifth spot of the points table with eight points and a NRR of +0.042.

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