Shaheen Shah Afridi praised Harry Brook’s century as a “world-class knock” after it all but ended Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the final four and advanced England to the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
With five balls remaining, England surpassed their 165-run mark to win by two wickets, as Brook scored his first T20 international century off 50 balls with four sixes and ten fours. Before Brook played the ultimate captain’s knock to lead his team home, Afridi startled the England top order with a burst of three wickets.
“In my opinion this will be the best innings of his life. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on but he took the game away from us,” AFP quoted Afridi telling reporters after the match.
After speaking with England coach Brendon McCullum in the morning and being promoted to number three, Brook entered the game after Afridi removed Phil Salt with the opening ball of the innings. Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell were subsequently removed by Afridi, leaving England in a precarious 35/3 position during the power play.
Brook stood tall, contributing 52 for the sixth wicket with Will Jacks and 45 for the fifth wicket with Sam Curran. His century was the first by a team captain and the second-fastest in T20 World Cup history.
In the 2016 T20 World Cup versus England, only the legendary Chris Gayle of the West Indies achieved three figures faster. It only took him 47 balls. Brook sped past the “nervous nineties” in two balls, moving from 90 to 100 clobbering Afridi for a six and a four, before lifting his bat.
The tall pacer dismissed Brook with a yorker on the following ball, but instead of celebrating loudly, he walked straight to congratulate the England captain in a brilliant display of cricket sportsmanship.
“Brook played proper cricketing shots and he deserved a handshake, so I went to him and shook his hand in appreciation,” said Afridi.
Pakistan need to win their final game and pray for other favorable outcomes in order to have any chance of making it to the semi-finals, as they have only one point from their two Super Eight games.
“We know our fate is not in our hands. But we need to beat Sri Lanka in our last match on Saturday and then hope other results go our way. It’s not ideal, but it like this,” Afridi admitted.
