PAK vs NED: The volatile and turbulent nature of T20 cricket once again came to the fore as Pakistan and the Netherlands played out a last-over thriller to kick off the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 with a humdinger of a game.
The T20 World Cup 2026 began on Saturday morning in Colombo—an unusual morning game involving neither of the co-hosts—with Pakistan clinching the match by three wickets and with only three balls to spare.
The Men In Green looked poised for a victory at the halfway stage in their chase of the target of 147, which the Dutch had scraped together after being asked to bat first by Salman Ali Agha.
As many as four Netherlands batsmen reached the 20-run mark. However, none of them could kick on and reach the half-century milestone.
The Pakistani bowlers kept pocketing wickets regularly, never allowing the Dutch batters to settle into a rhythm and create a partnership. Eventually, the batting side fell three runs short of 150, a below-par total on what seemed a decent Colombo pitch.
The Men In Green got off to a rollicking start, finishing the powerplay at 61/2. From thereon, a slowdown from Babar Azam’s end deterred Pakistan’s innings. While Sahibzada Farhan smacked 47 off 31 balls, Babar struggled in his innings of 15 runs off 18 balls.
The pressure began to accumulate, and it resulted in another infamous Pakistani collapse. They went from 98/2 at the 11-over mark to 114/7 after Shadab Khan was dismissed on the first ball of the 17th over.
Paul van Meekeren gave away only four runs in the 18th over, leaving Pakistan requiring 29 runs off 12 balls, their hopes all but dashed.
However, then came more twists. Faheem Ashraf launched Logan van Beek for a maximum over wide mid-wicket on the first ball of the 19th over, and on the next ball, he was then given a reprieve by Max O’Dowd, who spilled a simple catch at long-on.
Ashraf made the most of this chance and made the Netherlands pay by bashing two sixes and a four in the next four balls before finishing the match with a boundary on the third ball of the last over.
Pakistan may have won the game, but they would know that they escaped by a serious amount of luck in the 19th over. With Pakistan announcing a boycott of the IND vs PAK match, a defeat against the Dutch could have proven to be catastrophic.
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