Pakistan defeats Netherlands in T20 World Cup 2026

ISLAMABAD: In the opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup, Pakistan defeated the Netherlands by 3 wickets after a thrilling match due to the brilliant batting of Faheem Ashraf.

In the match being played in Colombo, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub opened the innings for Pakistan in pursuit of the target set by the Netherlands, but Saim Ayub was out for 27 runs after scoring 24 runs in 13 balls, he hit 4 fours and a six in his innings.

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha also fell victim to Aryan Dutt after scoring 12 runs on a total of 53. Sahibzada Farhan was out for 46 runs while Usman Khan was bowled for zero, both of them were dismissed by Paul van Mackeren in the same over. In the very next over, Van der Murphy caught Babar Azam.

Mohammad Nawaz was dismissed for 6 runs off 13 balls while Shadab Khan returned to the pavilion for 8 runs off 12 balls. After the fall of seven wickets, Faheem Ashraf showed his batting prowess and scored 29 runs off 9 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 2 fours and led the team to its first victory in the World Cup.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and invited the Netherlands to bat first.

Michael Luit and Max O’Dowd opened the innings for the Netherlands and the two openers provided the team with a 28-run start. The first player to be dismissed was Max O’Dowd who was dismissed by Salman Mirza after scoring 5 runs.

The second player to be dismissed by the Netherlands was Luit who was dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz, Michael Luit scored 24 runs. The third out was Dutchman Ackerman who was dismissed for 20 runs while Bas de Leed became the second victim of Mohammad Nawaz for 30 runs.

Mohammad Abrar took the fifth wicket for Pakistan while Saim Ayub took the sixth and seventh wickets for the Netherlands. Van der Murphy was the eighth out for the Netherlands and was caught by Shaheen Afridi off Salman Agha.

In the last over, Salman Mirza took two wickets and the entire Dutch team was bowled out for 147 runs.

At one point, it looked like the Netherlands team would score between 160 and 170, but the Pakistani bowlers made a brilliant comeback in the match and took the last 6 wickets for just 20 runs.

Salman Mirza took three wickets for Pakistan while Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz took two wickets each, with one wicket going to Shaheen Afridi.

For the Netherlands, captain Scott Edwards was the top scorer with 37 runs, while Bas de Leed 30, Michael Lewitt 24 and Colin Ackerman 20 were the notables.