Fakhar blasted four, six, four in the third over of the innings off Faheem Ashraf, launching into some wayward bowling served up by the Islamabad United bowlers early on in the innings. After playing out a dot from Faheem’s first ball he carved into the second, driving down the ground to pick up a four through long on.

He went even better with his next shot, pouncing on a short delivery from Faheem and launching him into the leg side. He pulled the ball high into the air and 15 metres over the square leg boundary where a ball-boy made an attempt to take a catch, but couldn’t quite cling on.

To pick up three in three, Fakhar again cashed in on a short ball from Faheem. He pulled behind square this time and evaded the fielder on the boundary to pick up another four.

The blitz off Faheem took him to 30 off 14 balls, and was an early indication of what was to come. After reaching his fifty off 24 balls, Fakhar raced towards his century, hitting five sixes in the first ten overs. Despite slowing down from there, taking 21 balls for the final 29 runs of his hundred, he reached the milestone off fifty balls.

Fakhar was finally dismissed by Hassan Ali, going for another big shot but caught by Mohammad Wasim Jr in the deep. It was a painful innings for Islamabad United after Fakhar was dropped at slip on one. Lahore Qalandars went on to post 226-5 from their 20 overs before reducing Islamabad to 68-5.

Watch: Fakhar Zaman goes 4, 6, 4 on his way to astonishing PSL hundred below

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He’s got going! #HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #IUvLQ @FakharZamanLive pic.twitter.com/b43js3TMqi

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 9, 2023