With the specter of a boycott hanging over the match against India on February 15, Pakistan cannot afford to make any more mistakes in the remaining three games against its partner nations. They almost did that on Saturday, nearly ending the 2026 T20 World Cup before it even officially started before Faheem Ashraf rescued Salman Ali Agha’s side from a major setback.In the opening match at the Sinhala Sports Club Stadium in Colombo, Pakistan scored 148 runs against the Netherlands, scoring 98 runs for 2 in 11 overs, scoring 50 runs off 54 balls.The game soon turned around when Paul van Meekeren dismissed the defensively brilliant Sahibzada Farhan, who was caught at 47 off 31 balls by Roelof van der Merwe. Van Miklen then removed Usman Khan for a duck in the same over.Babar Azam followed in the 13th over when he was caught by Michael Klein at long-on off van der Merwe. As Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan were dismissed consecutively, Pakistan scored 100 for 5, then 114 for 6, and 114 for 7, with a total score of over 16.1 overs.Pakistan still needed 34 off 23 balls and they could only score five off the next 11 balls. It was 29 points short of 12 when Logan van Beek came on. Pakistan was about to lose and Netherlands smelled victory.Faheem Ashraf then changed the game. He scored 24 runs in the 19th over and hit three sixes. At the end of the game he was dropped into the abyss by Max O’Dowd. This shift completely shifted the situation in Pakistan’s favour.After that burst, Ashraf completed the chase with a high cover shot to earn the winner as Pakistan returned home with a three-goal advantage. Just nine deliveries ago, that goal looked out of reach.Ashraf remained unbeaten on 29 off 11 balls as Pakistan beat the Netherlands by 3 wickets to avoid a major shock in the opener in Colombo.Van Miklen and van der Merwe put Holland in a strong position to break through Pakistan’s lower-middle order. But one in the 19th over proved decisive as Van Beek failed to reach his target and Ashraf took advantage of the opportunity. Although the day was shelved, questions about Pakistan’s batting still lingered.
