Harry Brook made a fiery knock set up England’s 2-wicket victory against Pakistan in the 45th match of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 played at Pallekele.
His century has set up England retain top spot in the group 2 of the Super 8s in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 points table and become the first team to qualify for the knock-out stages.
After choosing to bat first, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub opened the innings for Pakistan while Jofra Archer opened the bowling attack.
Archer bagged the wicket of Saim Ayub for 7 runs in the third overs while Dawson picked the wicket of Agha for 5 runs.
Joining Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam tried to forge a solid innings as Pakistan scored 46 runs in the power play.
Babar Azam added 25 runs before being dismissed by Jamie Overton. Meanwhile, Sahibzada Farhan smashed a fifty and went on to score 63 runs off 45 deliveries.
His dismissal of Jamie Overton’s delivery left Pakistan with the last 6 wickets for 122 runs. Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan made some crucial contributions of 25 and 23 before being dismissed by Adil Rashid and on run out respectively.
Meanwhile, Liam Dawson and Archer took care of the rest of the line, picking the wickets of Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Afridi.
Skipper Harry Brook’s sensational #T20WorldCup ton guides England into the semi-finals with a thrilling win over Pakistan 👏
📝: pic.twitter.com/8SFMsUHNX4
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 24, 2026
By the end of 20 overs, Pakistan scored 164 runs for 9 wickets. Liam Dawson picked three wickets in their four over spell, while Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton shared four wickets equally between them. Adil Rashid completes his spell with a wicket.
Chasing 165 run target, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler opened the innings while Shahee Afridi opened the bowling attack.
With Shaheen Afridi bagging the wickets of Phil Salt (0), Jos Buttler (2) and Jacob Bethell (8) in the powerplay, Harry Brook took the solid stance as England scored 53 runs in the powerplay.
Tom Banton’s dismissal for 2 runs left England in a tough spot, losing four wickets for 58 runs.
With batters getting dismissed at regular intervals, England captain Harry Brook went on to play a classic knock, smashing a fifty and continued the slaughter.
Sam Curran and Will Jacks did make small partnerships with Harry Brook as the latter smashed 100 runs off 51 deliveries before being dismissed by Afridi.
With Jofra Archer and Liam Dawson at the crease, England completed the chase in the final over, securing a 2-wicket victory.
Harry Brook was named the player of the match. Speaking on the post-match conference, England captain said, “Very happy with the way we played there, nice to get through to the semis now. It was all Baz, he came to me in the morning and told me that we might promote you to No. 3 today.”
“It’s nice to get out there and face as many balls as possible. They are always good; they have some world-class players. There are areas we want to improve on, we always strive for perfection,” added Brook.
“We have a game against New Zealand, and our mind is on that. We lost a couple of wickets; it was a tricky situation. It’s nice to get over the line,” concluded Harry Brook.
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