Faheem leads Pakistan to nervy win over Netherlands in T20 World Cup opener

Pakistan beat Netherlands by three wickets, but with only three balls to spare, in opening 2026 T20 World Cup fixture.Published On 7 Feb 2026The Netherlands nearly pulled ‌off a major upset before Faheem Ashraf’s breezy cameo secured a nervy three-wicket win for Pakistan in their Group A match at the Twenty20 World Cup.Put in to bat on Saturday, the Dutch side were bowled out for 147 with one delivery left in their innings in Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club ground.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4India now sets the terms of global cricketlist 2 of 4How Basant became Lahore’s signature festival in Pakistanlist 3 of 4As T20 World Cup begins, ousted Bangladesh rues politicisation of cricketlist 4 of 4Siraj replaces Rana for India as seamer misses T20 World Cup with injuryend of listThey then produced a lion-hearted effort ⁠with the ball, but dropping Faheem proved costly as the batter went on to smash 29 not out off 11 balls to secure Pakistan’s victory with three balls to spare.Pakistan have been left with little margin for error in their bid to qualify for the Super 8 stage of the tournament following their decision to boycott their February 15 group match against archrivals India.The importance of ⁠winning their group matches against the minnows did not appear to be lost on them as Pakistan bowled out the Netherlands with a ball to spare.They made heavy weather of their small target with the bat, though, and the outcome could have been different had Max O’Dowd held onto the catch offered by Faheem. Earlier, put in to bat, the Dutch side reached 100 in the 13th over but lost the plot in the death overs, giving up six wickets in ‌24 balls for just 20 runs.Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi, centre, and Faheem Ashraf, left, are congratulated by Netherlands’ Aryan Dutt for their team’s win [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]The Netherlands lost openers Max O’Dowd and Michael Levitt in successive overs but their middle order refused to throw in the towel.