• Meekeren’s double-wicket maiden turns chase on its head
• Pakistan win with three balls to spare after all-rounder smashes three sixes in 19th over

COLOMBO: Pakistan survived a monumental fright in the opening match of the T20 World Cup as Faheem Ashraf blazed an unbeaten 29 off 11 balls to haul his side past the Netherlands by three wickets in a breathless curtain-raiser on Saturday at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

What had appeared a routine chase of 148 descended into chaos as the Dutch, roared on by around 200 raucous travelling supporters, ripped through Pakistan’s middle order to leave them requiring 29 off the final two overs with only three wickets standing.

Enter Faheem. The all-rounder plundered 24 from the penultimate over, clearing the ropes three times and surviving a dropped catch in the deep by Max O’Dowd, before completing the job with three deliveries remaining.

“We had to do it the hard way,” admitted Pakistan captain Salman Agha. “We did well with the bat. We batted well earlier on but then in T20 cricket a few bad overs can change the complexion. All credit to Faheem,” he added

“Happy with our bowling. We did a good job. A target of 148 we would take that any day on this kind of surface. It was a good bowling performance.”

Pakistan had begun their chase in breezy fashion, racing to 61 for two inside the powerplay. Sahibzada Farhan looked in prime touch, cracking 47 off 31, but his exit swung the pendulum the Dutch way.

The right-arm quick Paul van Meekeren produced a double-wicket maiden that tightened the screws considerably and when the unconvincing Babar Azam fell in the following over for a scratchy 15, Pakistan had lost three wickets for two runs in the space of 10 deliveries.

Wobbling chase

With the chase wobbling, Faheem stitched a priceless unbroken 34-run stand for the eighth wicket with Shaheen Shah Afridi to see Pakistan home. “We have been playing this brand of cricket for this past year,” said Faheem, who was awarded player of the match.

“Heart rates go up and down, it’s happened so many times before, we’re used to it.” Earlier, the Netherlands showed plenty of flair after being put in.

Earlier, the Netherlands had sho­wn plenty of enterprise after being inserted and they were in a good position at 127-4 with four overs to go, but Pakistan applied the brakes with the slow men sharing six wickets bet­ween them.

“We weren’t at our best in all three departments today,” said Netherlands captain Scott Edwards.

“Credit to the boys to give us a chance at the back end. Obviously small moments can be crucial,” he added.

Edwards anchored the innings with a polished 37 off 29 balls, but perished when he tried to take the aerial route against leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.

Part-time spinner Saim Ayub then struck twice in the 17th over before left-arm quick Salman Mirza’s three-wicket burst dismissed the Dutch with one ball to spare.

Pakistan conceded just 20 runs in the final four overs backed up by a razor-sharp performance in the field with several outstanding catches in the deep.

“We just kept losing wickets at important times rather than building partnerships. We were thinking 160 would be a good total,” said Edwards.

Pakistan can ill-afford any slip-ups in the group stage after saying they will not play against India on February 15 on government instructions and forfeiting the points in Group A.

Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka in the 20-team tournament co-hosted by Sri Lanka and defending champions India.

Scoreboard

NETHERLANDS:

M. Levitt c Shaheen b Nawaz 24

M. O’Dowd c Usman b Mirza 5

B. de Leede c Babar b Nawaz 30

C. Ackermann b Abrar 20

S. Edwards c Farhan b Abrar 37

Z. Lion-Cachet c Nawaz b Saim 9

L. van Beek c Salman b Saim 0

A. Dutt c Farhan b Mirza 13

R. van der Merwe c Salman b Shaheen 4

K. Klein not out 2

P. van Meekeren c Usman b Mirza 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2) 3

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 147

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 (O’Dowd), 2-31 (Levitt), 3-65 (Ackermann), 4-105 (de Leede), 5-127 (Edwards), 6-128 (van Beek), 7-129 (Lion-Cachet), 8-139 (van der Merwe), 9-147 Dutt

BOWLING: Shaheen 3-0-28-1, Mirza 3.5-0-24-3 (2w), Nawaz 4-0-38-2, Shadab 4-0-26-0, Abrar 4-0-23-2, Saim 1-0-7-2

PAKISTAN:

Sahibzada Farhan c van der Merwe b Meekeren 47

Saim Ayub c van der Merwe b Dutt 24

Salman Ali Agha c Levitt b Dutt 12

Babar Azam c Klein b van der Merwe 15

Usman Khan b van Meekeren 0

Shadab Khan c Edwards b van Beek 8

Mohammad Nawaz c Edwards b Klein 6

Faheem Ashraf not out 29

Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 5

EXTRAS (W-2) 2

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 19.3 overs) 148

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Saim), 2-53 (Salman), 3-98 (Sahibzada), 4-98 (Usman), 5-100 (Babar), 6-114 (Nawaz), 7-114 (Shadab)

DID NOT BAT : Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed

BOWLING: Dutt 4-0-33-2, van Beek 4-0-46-1, Klein 3-0-23-1 (1w), van der Merwe 3-0-13-1, van Meekeren 4-1-20-2 (1w), de Leede 1.3-0-13-0

RESULT: Pakistan won by three wickets.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026