Pallekele, March 1: In a thrilling Super-8 match of the T20 World Cup 2026 held at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka faced a narrow defeat against Pakistan by just 5 runs. Despite the loss, captain Dasun Shanaka etched his name in history by becoming the player with the most sixes in T20 World Cup history as a captain.
Batting at number seven, Shanaka scored an unbeaten 76 runs off 31 balls, hitting 8 sixes and 2 fours. With this performance, he has now accumulated a total of 21 sixes as captain in T20 World Cups, surpassing former Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who had 19 sixes. Chris Gayle and Jos Buttler are tied for third place with 17 sixes each, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni follows with 16.
Shanaka’s 8 sixes mark the highest number hit by a Sri Lankan batsman in a T20 innings, surpassing Kusal Perera’s 7 sixes against India in Indore in 2017.
Batting first after losing the toss, the Pakistani team scored 212 runs, losing 8 wickets. Fakhar Zaman and Sahibzada Farhan provided a stellar start, putting together a partnership of 176 runs for the first wicket in just 15.5 overs. Zaman scored 84 runs off 42 balls, including 4 sixes and 9 fours, before the wickets began to tumble. Farhan, however, remained steady, scoring 100 runs with 5 sixes and 9 fours, while no other player managed to reach double figures.
For Sri Lanka, Dilshan Madushanka took the most wickets, claiming 3, while Shanaka contributed with 2 wickets and Dushmantha Chameera took 1.
In response, the Sri Lankan team could only muster 207 runs, losing 6 wickets in the process. Pawan Ratnayake played a notable innings, scoring 58 runs off 37 balls, while captain Shanaka’s explosive knock included 8 sixes and 2 fours. On the Pakistani side, Abrar Ahmed was the standout bowler, taking 3 wickets, with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Nawaz each claiming 1 wicket.
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