The first match of the ICC T20 World Cup has already provided a glimpse of thrill with an exciting outing between Pakistan and the Netherlands as Pakistan has saved an out-and-out upset, with naive difference. Just a week before the World Cup, the Pakistan government decided not to give permission of playing against the Indian team on February 15 amid that a poor performance against Netherlands triggered the fans and as a result, everyone has started to take a dig at the Pakistan team.
What happened?
Pakistan has started their run in the World Cup with a win despite that, no one is leaving a scope to hammer them. Winning the toss, at Colombo, Pakistan chose to bowl first and stopped the Netherlands in just 147 runs. It was expected that the contest between the two teams would be an interesting one as in recent years, the Netherlands performance among the associate teams remained one of the best.
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Coming to bat in the second innings, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub opened the innings for Pakistan and maximised the powerplay by making 61 runs in 6 overs. They lost their first wicket at 27 runs and the second in 53 runs after that a brief partnership went till 98 runs. Then, the Netherlands bowlers shifted the momentum towards them. Players like Babar Azam failed to stand in the moment and a series of wickets faltered the whole innings of Pakistan. Pakistan lost 5 wickets in a span of just 16 runs and the Netherlands only failed to get rid of Faheem Ashraf who played a brilliant match-winning knock to give Pakistan their first victory.
Despite being in a good stage, Pakistan’s collapse against an associate team is nothing but an indication that associate teams are not just here to participate, they are also ready to give shock to any other teams.
Pakistan are placed in Group A alongside India, Netherlands, Namibia, and the United States, and after opening their campaign against the Netherlands, their next Group A match is against USA on February 10, 2026, in Colombo, where Pakistan will look to strengthen their position in a competitive group stage.
