Pakistan has been set a challenging total of 147 by the mighty Netherlands in the first match of ICC T20 WC 2026. It was a collective effort from Dutch who unleashed an attack from ball 1. Skipper Scott Edwards played a significant knock of 37 runs in 29 balls and hit 3 fours and 1 six. Pakistan need to chase 148 runs to start their campaign in a bang.
Netherlands have a steady powerplay despite early wickets
Netherlands started their innings in a bang as they hit four of first ball. Michael Levitt was seen steppind down the track against Shaheen Afridi & Salman Mirza. The Colombo surface surprisingly was a greenish one but overcast conditions made life not so easy for batters. Max O Dowd was dismissed by Salman Mirza.
In the 5th over, Shaheen Afridi & Babar Azam took a stunning catch on the ropes it was a brilliant fielding work. Netherlands still managed to get 50 runs on the board for the loss of 2 wickets. Salman Ali Agha didn’t introduce Saim Ayub in the powerplay overs which was quite astonishing given he had success against Australia in recently concluded T20I series.
Netherlands accelerate in the middle overs phase
Colin Ackermann played a fiery cameo of 20 runs in 14 balls but he was duped by Abrar Ahmed. Scott Edwards was seen playing a lot of sweep shots to negate the threat of spin. Nawaz was bowling around the pads a bit too often we can say. The field placements of Salman Ali Agha was quite questionable given easy singles were given.
The middle overs phase yielded from 8-15 overs 73 runs and they lost 2 wickets. Scott Edwards was looking in red hot form as he was quite astute in rotating the strike. At the end of 15 overs, Netherlands’ score was 123-4 and were looking all set to get a score in excess of 160.
Pakistan make astounding comeback
Abrar Ahmed got the crucial breakthrough of Scott Edwards in the 16th over which led to collapse of Netherlands. Netherlands from 127-5 got bundled out for 147 in 19.5 overs. There were expectations from the star all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe to end the innings on a high note but that didn’t happen at all.
Saim Ayub was given the ball in 17th over who took 2 wickets of Zach Lion Cachet & Logan van Beek. Netherlands pressed the panic button we can say in trying to reach 180. In the death overs, Netherlands scored only 26 runs and lost 6 wickets which can hurt them while defending the target.
Who’s winning, Netherlands or Pakistan?
Pakistan would be proud of how they pulled back the things in the match in the death overs. 148 is not a daunting target for Pakistan but it’s challenging as Dutch would be eyeing early wickets to make things interesting. All eyes will be on Saim Ayub, if he gets Pakistan to a flyer then they would get over the finish line comfortably. It would be an upset if Netherlands beat Pakistan as they haven’t done at all in the history of game but we all know it’s not going to be an easy chase for Pakistan who have a knack of unpredictable tag with them. Netherlands should play intrepid brand of cricket then only they can win.
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