COLOMBO: Captain Salman Agha warned on Friday that his Pakistan team must bring their “A-game” to the ICC T20 World Cup to reach the knockout stages after forfeiting their group match against India.

The tournament has been overshadowed by an acrimonious political build-up as Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland. The Pakistan government, showing solidarity with Bangladesh in the 20-team extravaganza, decided not to take the field against arch-rivals and co-hosts India in their Group ‘A’ fixture scheduled for Feb 15 in Colombo.

The matter has lingered on amid uncertainty regarding the fate of the blockbuster clash after Sri Lanka Cricket on Thursday made an earnest appeal to the Pakistan Cricket Board to reconsider its decision citing financial losses as a result of a boycott of the game by Pakistan.

Pakistan, the winners of the 2009 World T20 staged in England, will lose two points for the forfeit and also suffer a significant blow to their net run-rate, leaving little margin for error.

Even one abandoned match due to bad weather could complicate the Green-shirts’ path to the next round.

Pakistan open their campaign on Saturday in Sri Lanka against the Netherlands and will also face Namibia and the United States in the other group ‘A’ fixtures.

“We need to be cautious and bring our A-game,” Salman told reporters in Colombo, admitting Pakistan have limited experience of the Netherlands and “don’t know many” of their players.

“We intend to unleash all our spin options because we feel they are vulnerable against quality spin,” he said.

Pakistan will lean heavily on their explosive opening pair Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub, with Salman slated for number three.

Former skipper Babar Azam — who has struggled for form of late — slots in at number four.

“Babar has been working overtime on his game. He’s a key player in these conditions and can change a match in a few overs. We depend on him heavily,” Salman said.

Pakistan are on a high after a recent 3-0 T20 whitewash of Australia at home with all the games staged in Lahore.

The Pakistan team will seek advice from their government if they reach the knockout phase and meet India amid the ongoing acrimony between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

‘DUTCH ARE PREPARED’

As regards the Netherlands, they have played very few T20 Internationals — three to be exact — against full-member nations since the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

The side are a nice blend of veterans, young talent and players just peaking at the right time.

“I think, if you look at our past performances in the World Cup, it has always been that rare upset here and there,” Dutch opener Max O’Dowd said on the eve of their World Cup opener.

“I don’t think we have ever been a team that is consistent to be able to be extremely successful in the World Cup. I feel like this is a point now, in a lot of players’ careers, where they have faced a lot of international cricket. They have played against the best teams in the world. I feel as prepared as we have ever been.”

That preparation is going to be put to the test against an in-form Pakistan, but this Netherlands team have done upsets before and O’Dowd is confident of at least one more.

“We understand that it is going to be difficult because Pakistan are a very good team,” he said. “For us, it is just to go out there, trust the work that we have put in, trust the training that we have put in and go from there.

“Obviously, playing in Sri Lanka, playing in India, travelling around this World Cup will offer different opportunities and different services. For us, it’s just how quickly we can adjust. I feel like the preparation has been great. We’ve spent a lot of time on the subcontinent. We’ve been playing in Bangladesh recently. For us, I feel like it’s just another chance to show our skills.”

Among the key challenges in a sub-continental World Cup will be handling spin, something Netherlands will no doubt face in their opener against Pakistan in Colombo.

“They [Pakistan] have got high-quality spinners,” O’Dowd said. “Thankfully, we’ve spent the last month and a half working very hard. We’ve been facing spin in these conditions. Like I said, the guys are up-skilled. We’ve done our homework on a lot of these spin bowlers.”

When asked about the “perceived” pressure on Pakistan after their government decided to boycott the game against India, O’Dowd said the matter was of no concern to his team.

“Look, to be honest, I don’t have much to say about Pakistan boycotting against India, that’s completely out of our control. We just kind of focus on what we’re doing, what we need to do tomorrow, which is to try and beat Pakistan,” O’Dowd said.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2026