T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan Edge Past Netherlands in Nail-Biting First Match

What a start to the T20 World Cup 2026! It was a nail-biting opening match, with Pakistan keeping calm under pressure to win by three wickets. Faheem Ashraf and Max O'Dowd were the standout players and will be talked about a lot back home. Pakistan survived a big scare to begin their campaign with a win. Netherlands gave the 2009 champions a run for their money and were all set for an upset in the first game of the season, but O'Dowd put down Faheem's catch on the second ball of the penultimate over, when the Men in Green still required 23 runs to win, and that was the final twist in this mouth-watering tale.

Earlier in the game, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl first. Shaheen Shah Afridi had a wayward start with the new ball, and Michael Levitt made decent use of it. However, the Dutch lose both their openers in quick succession, but useful knocks from Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann and Scott Edwards gave a good launching platform for Netherlands. Edwards top-scored with 37 off 29 balls. A late collapse from Pakistan bundled out Netherlands for just 147 in 19.5 overs as the Orange Army lost their last 6 wickets for just 23 runs.

Salman Mirza picked up three wickets, while Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed and Saim Ayub scalped two each. Shaheen had a late wicket to his name, while Shadab was wicketless but economical. Saim Ayub went hammer and tongs up front, scoring a 13-ball 24, but Aryan Dutt had an immediate revenge, before Sahibzada Farhan (47 off 31) looked good with a classy innings.

Pakistan Hold Nerve to Edge Past Netherlands in Thriller

Farhan started slowly, but once Salman Ali Agha joined him, he looked in fine touch. However, after a few boundaries, the Pakistan skipper fell into the trap set by Aryan Dutt. Despite scoring 61 runs in the powerplay, Farhan went all guns blazing and had the required run rate under control, Pakistan somehow found it hard to get away after the halfway mark. Netherlands bounced back in the second half of the innings to pick up wickets at regular intervals and apply a choke on the Men in Green.

Even the stalwart Babar Azam struggled to milk the runs and eventually holed out. However, Faheem's timely blows, three sixes and a four in the 19th over delivered by Logan van Beek, showed exactly where the match was heading with Pakistan needing 29 runs to win off the last 2 overs. The equation was down to 5 off the last 6 balls. Shaheen and Faheem took just 3 balls of the last over to crawl home. The latter was superb under pressure, hitting an unbeaten 29 off 11 balls.

Aryan Dutt took two wickets in the powerplay. Paul van Meekeren bowled a double-wicket maiden and finished with 2/20, and it was he who turned things around in the 12th over. Not to forget the 41-year-old Roelof van Merwe's efforts on the field and with the ball for his 1/13 in 3 overs. Van Beek's 24 runs in the penultimate over ended the hopes of the Netherlands. 

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by Shekhar February 7, 2026