Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman showed once again that “form is temporary, class is permanent”, a phrase heard often in cricket and across sport. When the subject is someone like Fakhar Zaman, it is perhaps heard even more. His performances are a living paradox: on the days he is in rhythm, even the world’s best bowling line-up counts for nothing in front of him. And when he is not? Let that rest for today.
Look at his form before the final. After four matches he had only 31 runs to his name. In a series where runs flowed freely and more than one world record fell, that tally looked badly out of place. So he went into the final under some pressure.
Still, the management kept its faith in him, because the stage was big and, as the past showed, this is when he comes alive. That is perhaps why he kept his place.
The match itself was steadily setting the stage for him. Sri Lanka batted first and piled up 325. When Pakistan lost two wickets with only 14 on the board in reply, the task became harder still.
Fakhar Zaman thrives on the hard task. He has shown it many times before, and he showed it again last night. Luck helped a little too. He cut a ball from Asitha Fernando towards deep third man, and Dilshan Madushanka came very close to the catch, but the ball went off his hands over the boundary.
It brought back at once something from nine years ago. In the 2017 Champions Trophy final, too, he edged a catch behind early in his innings and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took it, but the replay showed Jasprit Bumrah’s delivery was a no-ball. Given that “life”, he made a century and Pakistan had the last laugh. When the six came off Madushanka’s hands last night, was the same thought running through his head? Or did he hear, right then, that this was his day?
What he did next is very familiar to Pakistan. He built a 149-run stand with Saad Baig. After Saad’s dismissal he added 57 with Salman Ali Agha, 45 of them his own. When he was out with the team on 220, he had 127 to his name. Pakistan were then only 106 runs from victory, with 98 balls in hand.
As he left the field, Gaddafi Stadium stood to applaud him, because everyone knew that with an innings of 11 fours and six sixes Fakhar had done his job very well. He had put Pakistan in the driving seat and broken Sri Lanka’s spirit at the same time.
The greatest gift of great players is that, along with their performance, they can get inside the opponent’s head with ease. Fakhar has done that many times in his career. India felt it in the 2017 Champions Trophy, and Australia in the final of a tri-nation T20 series the following year. Last night it was Sri Lanka’s turn.
Fakhar answered with his bat why the Pakistan management kept him in the XI for the final despite such poor form. He also set a string of records. He is now the Pakistan batter with the most centuries in chases of 300 or more, with four on such occasions.
Last night Fakhar also equalled a record held by Saeed Anwar. Saeed was the Pakistan batter with the most centuries in finals of multinational tournaments, and with last night’s hundred Fakhar Zaman has joined him. In one respect he stands above the Pakistan great: both of Saeed Anwar’s two centuries came in tri-nation series finals, while one of Fakhar’s match-winning hundreds won Pakistan the ICC Champions Trophy, which remains Pakistan’s only ICC title in the past 15 years, though that memory now belongs to the distant past.
From past to present, what stays constant is his performance. It is exactly as it was nine years ago. When the big stage comes, Pakistan look to him, and Fakhar gives everything he has. Because form may be temporary, but class is permanent.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report