The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the Team of the Tournament for this year’s T20 World Cup, with Pakistani opener Sahibzada Farhaan making the list despite the Green Shirts’ dismal campaign.

Farhan became the only Pakistani player to be named in the 12-member team for his excellent performance during the tournament, sealing 383 runs – the highest a batter has scored in a single edition of the T20 World Cup.

“Though Pakistan were patchy in the tournament, Sahibzada Farhan was consistently brilliant,” the ICC said.

“The 29-year-old opener also became the first batter to score two hundreds in a single edition of a T20 World Cup. The highlight was a century he scored against Sri Lanka in the final Super Eight clash, setting up a five-run win,” it added.

The right-handed Pakistani batter scored tons in the matches against Namibia and Sri Lanka. He had also scored two half-centuries against the USA and England.

Meanwhile, his 176-run partnership with Fakhar Zaman against Sri Lanka was the record highest for any wicket in the history of the T20 World Cup.

The ICC’s Team of the Tournament also included four players from team India, this year’s champions. These included Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.

England’s Will Jacks and Adil Rashid, West Indies’ Jason Holder, Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani, and South Africa’s Aidan Markram and Lungi Ngidi were also included. Markram was also named the captain.

Moreover, the USA’s Shadley Van Schalkwyk was named the 12th player.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav said gold in 2028 on cricket’s return to the Olympics was the country’s next big aim after extending their T20 domination with back-to-back World Cup titles.

Co-hosts India hammered New Zealand by 96 runs in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday to be the first team to retain the T20 World crown and first to win it three times.

It was also the first time a team have won the title on home soil, and they did it with a brand of fearless, attacking cricket.

“It has been very special,” Suryakumar told reporters at a celebratory midnight press conference, as fans across the country flooded into the streets.

“And definitely the next goal is Olympics, Olympic gold, and also the T20 World Cup that year.”

Los Angeles 2028 will see cricket return to the Olympics for the first time since 1900.

Led by then-captain Rohit Sharma, India won the T20 World Cup two years ago in Barbados for their first major title since the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Rohit and fellow stalwart Virat Kohli retired from the shortest format after the final against South Africa, and Suryakumar took over as captain.

“I think that drought ended in 2024 after a really long time and from there we never looked back,” said the 35-year-old.

“We played a different brand of cricket in 2024 and from there we understood how this team needs to work (going) forward.

“And it’s been a wonderful journey since then.”

Suryakumar added: “We wanted to do something special in front of the home crowd. We want to continue doing that … and never stop.”

India won the 50-over World Cup in 2011 at home under MS Dhoni, who led the team to a T20 World Cup in the inaugural edition in 2007.

After that was a comparative drought in the biggest events by India’s sky-high standards.

Two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir, who succeeded Rahul Dravid as coach after the 2024 World Cup win, wants to carve out his own legacy.

“I don’t believe in inheriting anything, I believe in creating something,” said Gambhir, who has not always been universally popular with fans and pundits as the coach.

“And hopefully we’ve created something which probably all of you guys could be proud of, the kind of brand of cricket we’ve played.”

LONDON: Southampton became the first non Premier League club to reach the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Cup with a 1-0 victory at Fulham that was sealed by a late penalty on Sunday.

The game looked as though it was heading for extra time when Finn Azaz was brought down in the area by Joachim Andersen and substitute Ross Stewart converted from the spot.

It was no more than Championship side Southampton deserved as they made the better chances, including one for Azaz that was brilliantly saved by Fulham keeper Benjamin Lecomte who had earlier done well to deny Tom Fellows.

Their players wore a yellow commemorative kit to mark 50 years since they wore the same shirts when Bobby Stokes’ sealed the nsecond-tier Southampton’s shock 1976 FA Cup final win against Manchester United at Wembley.

Southampton join a powerful-looking quartet already through to the last eight with Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in the hat for the quarter-finals.

On Saturday, Chelsea battled past 10-man Wrexham and moved into the last eight after a 4-2 win but only after a mig­hty scare against the second-tier side, who twice took the lead at the Racecourse Ground.

Hollywood-owned Wrexham, watched by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, went ahead through Sam Smith but the visitors drew level courtesy of an own goal shortly before half-time.

In a breathless second period, Callum Doy­le put the Welsh team back ahead again in the 78th minute, only for Josh Ach­e­ampong to equalise four minutes later.

The game changed complexion when Wrexham midfielder George Dobson was sent off in stoppage time and Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho volleyed home in the first period of extra time before substitute Joao Pedro’s late strike added gloss to the scoreline.Meanwhile on Saturday, Manchester City shrugged off 10 changes to their starting line-up to crush Newcastle United 3-1 and reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The home side began strongly at St James’ Park and took a deserved lead when Harvey Barnes finished smartly after being found by Sandro Tonali.

City were level in the 39th minute in bizarre fashion when Jeremy Doku’s dangerous ball behind the defence ran all the way to Savinho.

The Brazilian stood still and appeared to let the ball bounce off his leg into the net.

Soon after the restart City completed the turnaround when Omar Marmoush smashed the ball into the roof of the goal from close range.

The Egyptian forward then thundered home his second in the 65th minute to put his team in total control.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026