Colombo, Feb 7 (IANS) Pakistan made a tense start to their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign as they overcame a scare against the Netherlands to seal a three-wicket victory in the tournament opener here at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Saturday.
Pakistan began the match on a strong note by restricting the Netherlands to 147 all out in 19.5 overs as Salman Mirza starred with the ball, picking up three wickets, while Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed and Saim Ayub provided effective support.
Asked to bat first, the Netherlands got off to a brisk start through Michael Levitt, who struck early boundaries and a six as the side reached 28 in three overs. However, the momentum shifted when Mirza dismissed Max O'Dowd cheaply, followed by Levitt's dismissal to Mohammad Nawaz after a sharp relay catch involving Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi. Despite Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann steadying the innings to reach 50/2 at the end of the powerplay, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Scott Edwards led the resistance with a composed 37 and added a brief 27-run stand with de Leede, but Pakistan’s spinners tightened their control in the middle overs. Edwards’ dismissal by Abrar Ahmed triggered a collapse, with Saim Ayub striking twice on debut to remove Logan van Beek and Zach Lion-Cachet. The lower order failed to contribute meaningfully as wickets tumbled late in the innings.
Mirza finished with figures of 3-24, Abrar Ahmed claimed 2-23, and Pakistan comfortably kept the Netherlands below par at 147.
In the chase, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub got off to a decent start, with the latter hitting Logan van Beek for a hat-trick of fours in the second over. The opening batter then went on to hit Aryan Dutt in the next over, but the latter got the better of him to send him packing for a 13-ball 24.
Skipper Salman Ali Agha and Farhan then looked to build momentum and carry the innings forward and looked in solid touch when they hit a flurry of boundaries, but the former mistimed a shot off Dutt and gave away a catch to Michael Levitt. However, the initial fireworks helped Pakistan reach 61/2 at the end of the powerplay, leaving them in a comfortable position.
Babar Azam was slow in scoring runs, as he took 15 balls to score his firstboundary, while Farhan kept the scoreboard ticking from the other end as Pakistan struggled to score runs in the middle overs. A double-wicket maiden 12th over by Paul van Meekeren saw the Netherlands bounce back into the game before Babar holed out against Roelof van der Merwe.
Moments after recovering from the scare, Pakistan were handed another setback when Kyle Klein and Logan van Beek triggered a collapse by dismissing Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan off consecutive deliveries.
The match became immensely interesting in the final stages, with Pakistan needing 33 off the last three overs and the Dutch players only adding pressure on the batters. However, three sixes and a boundary by Faheem Ashraf off van Beek’s 19th over and a costly dropped catch by O'Dowd between the first two maximums turned the tide in Pakistan’s favour as the game slipped out of the Netherlands’ hands.
With the final over approaching, the Men in Green needed only five runs from six balls. Faheem finished the match with a four, helping the team avoid disaster. Pakistan took a sigh of relief and secured a victory that once seemed guaranteed but was almost lost nine balls earlier.
Brief Scores: Netherlands 147 in 19.5 overs (Scott Edwards 37, Bas de Leede 30, Salman Mirza 3-24, Abrar Ahmed 2-23) lost to Pakistan 148/7 (Shahibzada Farhan 47, Faheem Ashraf 29; Paul van Meekeren 2-20, Aryan Dutt 2-33) by three wickets.
--IANS
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