Kandy, February 28 – Pakistani opener Sahibzada Farhan has made his mark in history books as he continued his sensational performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday, surpassing Virat Kohli's record for the most runs scored in a single edition of the tournament.
Farhan achieved this milestone during Pakistan's must-win Group 2 Super 8s match against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Stadium. Prior to the match, the 29-year-old needed 37 runs to surpass Kohli's tally of 319 runs, a record that had stood since the 2014 edition of the tournament.
The landmark moment came early in Pakistan's innings. Facing pacer Dushmantha Chameera, Farhan attacked from the start, hitting a six and a four to get close to the record. He eventually matched Kohli's score with a single on the final ball of the fifth over. He achieved this feat by hitting a boundary off Dasun Shanaka at the start of the sixth over.
Kohli had set the previous benchmark during the 2014 T20 World Cup, a campaign in which he also led India to the final and was named Player of the Tournament. He went on to achieve this individual honour again in the 2016 edition.
Farhan has been consistently performing well in the tournament. He made a name for himself with a century against Namibia, followed it up with a half-century in the Super 8s match against England, and has consistently provided strong starts at the top of the order. His only setback came against India, where he was dismissed without scoring by Hardik Pandya.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl. Pakistan made three changes to their playing XI for the high-pressure encounter, leaving out Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, and Salman Mirza, while bringing in Naseem Shah, Khawaja Nafay, and Abrar Ahmed.
Sri Lanka have been eliminated from the tournament after suffering back-to-back defeats against England and New Zealand in their first two Super 8s matches. Pakistan can still qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Sri Lanka by a margin of 64 runs to surpass the Net Run Rate (NRR) of New Zealand.