Fakhar said runs in finals 'just feel different' — then proved it with 127 off 99

Kamindu Mendis chose the biggest stage to announce himself as a full-format force. His 131 — a maiden ODI century crafted with the patience of a Test opener and the finishing power of a T20 freelancer — was the centrepiece of Sri Lanka's 325 for 8. Rathnayake's 77 gave the innings its spine. On a Gaddafi Stadium pitch that had already served up high-scoring thrillers all series, 326 was not unassailable. But it was a number that demanded someone to stand up and own the chase.

Pakistan had not won an ODI tri-series title in years. The Lahore crowd, which had watched England get eliminated and Shadab Khan conjure heists earlier in the tournament, wanted one more night to remember.

Fakhar Zaman had gone through the entire tri-series without a fifty before the final. Five matches. Zero half-centuries. The kind of lean stretch that makes selectors twitch and pundits wonder aloud if the left-hander's best days are behind him at 36.

He answered all of them in 99 deliveries. His 127 — 12th ODI century, and the most consequential since that famous Champions Trophy final hundred against India at The Oval in 2017 — was vintage Fakhar. Aggressive without being reckless. Punishing width, working the gaps, and accelerating when the field spread.

Saad Baig's composed 74 gave the innings its early architecture. But it was Fakhar who set the tempo and refused to let the required rate spiral out of reach.

At 206 for 5, needing 125 off 79 balls, Fakhar was bowled by Dilshan Madushanka. The man who had held the chase together was gone, and Pakistan's middle order had already crumbled around him. Madushanka, who had wrecked Pakistan for 110 four days earlier, was sniffing another demolition.

This was the moment that should have broken Pakistan. Five down. The set batter dismissed. Over eight runs an over required. The Lahore crowd went quiet.

And then a 21-year-old from Multan walked out and decided he was not interested in the script.

Arafat Minhas is not supposed to be the man you trust with a run-chase in an ODI final. He is 21 years old, a left-arm spinning all-rounder who only made his ODI debut five months ago. A player who became the first Pakistani bowler to take a five-wicket haul on debut — against Australia, no less — and who had already drawn comparisons to Ravindra Jadeja for his bowling action.

But batting? In a final? At five down needing 125?

Minhas did not just survive. He attacked. Three fours. Four sixes. Sixty-one runs off 31 balls. He and Hasan Nawaz put on 94 runs together, a partnership that turned a Lahore funeral into a Lahore carnival. By the time Fernando caught-and-bowled him, Pakistan needed just 31 off 18 balls — a formality that Shaheen Afridi and Nawaz completed with nine balls to spare.

It would be unfair to ignore what Sri Lanka's bowlers were dealing with. As the Lahore evening settled in, dew turned the white ball into a bar of soap. Madushanka, who had taken 3 for 63, simply could not grip his slower balls. The Sri Lankan seamers found it hard to control the wet ball, and lengths that had troubled Pakistan's top order under lights became slot deliveries by the 40th over.

None of this diminishes Fakhar's century or Minhas' pyrotechnics. But it is context that explains why Kamindu Mendis' magnificent 131 — and Madushanka's earlier three-for — were not enough to defend 326.

Pakistan play 50-over cricket like no other team on the planet. They can lose to everyone and then chase 326 in a final under pressure like it is a club game in Rawalpindi. The tri-series — which also served as a World Cup 2027 laboratory — exposed their inconsistency: they lost to Sri Lanka by eight wickets four days before the final, had Haris Rauf pick up his fifth demerit point for bat-waving antics, and saw England eliminated in part because Pakistan could not beat Sri Lanka when it would have helped everyone.

But on the night that mattered, Fakhar rediscovered his best self, and Minhas announced himself as the all-rounder Pakistan have been searching for since Shadab Khan's body started complaining about being both leg-spinner and lower-order saviour.

At 21, with 9 wickets and 149 runs across the series, Minhas did not just help Pakistan win a trophy. He made the World Cup 2027 squad conversation a lot simpler.