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Pakistan (148/7) defeat Netherlands (147) by 3 wickets in a tense last-over thriller in the opening game of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026

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The World Cup gets underway with Pakistan taking on the Netherlands in Colombo. Pakistan enter the tournament brimming with confidence after an impressive recent victory over Australia, a result that once again highlighted their explosive firepower in the shortest format.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, will be keen to make an early statement, aiming to prove they can compete with the tournament heavyweights and challenge expectations in Group A.

Key talking points include whether Pakistan can carry their momentum from the Australia win into the tournament opener, if the Netherlands can pull off an early upset to shake up the group, and which players will step up as the match-winners on the day.

Squads:

Netherlands
Michael Levitt, Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Zach Lion Cachet, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards(w/c), Noah Croes, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Kyle Klein, Paul van Meekeren, Timm van der Gugten, Saqib Zulfiqar, Fred Klaassen

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Khawaja Nafay(w), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan, Usman Khan, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq

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This is awful timing for me (almost midnight). Luckily it is weekend. If there was no chance of rain, I would be more interested. We will have a more accurate weather forecast in the next 4-5 hours .
 
The only positive news is that rain spell will be short, and since it is a day game, the cut=off time will probably be 4-5pm local time. The way it is, we might not have a 40 over game though. This game may have too many interruptions.
 
Forecast is getting worse...Rain arriving sooner probably. Let's see. It will be intermittent cricket, if any.
 
Are we going to have another opener for the WC which will echo throughout the tourney and all of us taking out calculators to figure out how we can go to next round, for the love of God, give us a normal WC opener for a change. I can only hope.
 
When you boycott matches, you deserve to go out of tournament if an upset happens or if rain comes.

Pakistan has made its bed.

Now better not complain about other things.
 
Forecast is getting worse...Rain arriving sooner probably. Let's see. It will be intermittent cricket, if any.

Hopefully they will be able to get in 10 overs at least.

Both sides need to bat for 5 overs minimum to prevent a washout.
 
Hopefully they will be able to get in 10 overs at least.

Both sides need to bat for 5 overs minimum to prevent a washout.
Hopefully, intermittent cricket would be possible. If it was a passing shower, that would not be a problem. A thunderstorm, which is in the forecast, can drop buckets in no time - that will be a concern.
 
Weather looks fine during the match time, we should get the whole match. could get a bit dodgy before the end but 6 overs of the second innings probably would've been done. The teams have to be prepared with all the calculations/scenarios in case of a truncated game.


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Pakistan has group of veterans SSA Babar Fakhar Naseem, they need to carry this team WCs are won by this method
 
Pakistan win the toss and are fielding first. Looks like pitch has some grass and moisture so I guess it won't be a typical SL wicket.
 
I fear for Dutch Bros. (Great coffee btw)

They are going to feel full force of a Pakistan with pent up frustration. This is like fighting a boxer fresh off a divorce. You know he has bad intentions when you get in the ring with him.
 
Pakistan are fielding first. Good decision.

It may rain. Better to bat last if DLS becomes a factor.
 
Wait is this test or t20...why is it starting morning time?? Such a bad scheduling by icc. Anyways heading towards office Good luck guys
 
We have 5 spin options and three pacers, why we need 8 options, would rather have nafay instead of one of the bowlers but let's see.
 
I would have played Nafay instead of Faheem here... Faheem might not even bowl more than 1 over today... Useless.
 
Honestly what is the use of faheem here.
U already have Shaheen salman abrar nawaz shadab and saim.
Faheem is useless here.
 
Am watching the match live, and I just heard on the commentary that the entrance for this match is free??? This is a world cup game ...
 
Too many allrounders
Nafay should have played over one of the allrounders probably faheem
I think due to excessive grass and earlier start they thought they might need 3 pacers atleast to exploit conditions. And issue with spinners is they all can bat except abrar, but you can't drop him either , maybe on such a pitch vs team like Dutch which is not so strong they could have rested him and bring in nafay to make batting stronger. other spinners should have been enough for these Dutch players.
 
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