Colombo, Feb. 7 -- Pakistan narrowly avoided a major upset against a resilient Netherlands side in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign-opener at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, on Saturday. Pakistan won their campaign-opener by three wickets after bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf got the team over the line from a tricky situation.

After being put into bat, the Netherlands adopted a fearless approach as they raced to 50/2 within the Powerplay. Michael Levitt (24 off 15) provided the early fireworks, including a massive six, before falling to Mohammd Nawaz (2/38 in 4 overs).

At the halfway mark, the Dutch were cruising at 79/3, and later reached 123/4 in 15 overs. Skipper Scott Edwards (37) and Bas de Leede (30) appeared to be ...