Pakistan avoided another false start at a T20 World Cup by the skin of their teeth, this time against the Netherlands, but the path ahead will only get trickier.
In the opening match of the 2026 tournament in Colombo, Pakistan seemed headed towards certain defeat in a low-scoring contest. With two overs remaining in the match, Salman Agha's team needed 29 runs from 12 balls and had just three wickets in hand.
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf then bashed three sixes in the penultimate over along with a boundary to conjure an unlikely victory. The Dutch did themselves no favours, though, dropping a straightforward chance at the start of the 18th over.
Pakistan and Ashraf did not need a second invitation and they finished the contest before the last six deliveries. It was a massive result for Pakistan. They avoided another embarrassing start at a World Cup; last time in 2024 Pakistan famously lost to hosts USA via Super Over. That defeat ultimately derailed their T20 World Cup campaign.
A similar loss here would have amplified the noise around the team, especially because their next two opponents – USA on Tuesday and India on Sunday – held the upper hand against them in the previous edition.
USA once again
The 2024 T20 World Cup was a painful one for Pakistan. Their failure to chase 120 against India was astonishing, but more telling in the larger scheme of things was their opening defeat to the largely part-time cricketers of USA. That loss meant Pakistan did not qualify for the Super Eights.
The USA team is still as dangerous. They nearly knocked India down in the opening match in Mumbai over the weekend. The Americans had India crawling at 77-6 before an extraordinary late assault by captain Suryakumar Yadav took the team to 161-9 on a tough pitch. India were also greatly assisted by injury to the hugely impressive pacer Ali Khan, who could not complete his quota of overs, while even his replacement bowler picked up an injury.
Pakistan will now be extra cautious because the pitches so far have provided assistance to all variety of bowlers, while the form of their own batters in the first match did not reach the desired levels.
Openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub – now also a world-class all-rounder – look on top of their game but the rest of the team, including star batter Babar Azam, seem at sixes and sevens in the T20 format. Ashraf shielded them from greater scrutiny in the first match.
Shaheen's milestone
Another player who will be sensing the gaze of the public on him is Shaheen Afridi. The left-arm seamer was out-bowled in the opening match by fellow left-arm seamer Salman Mirza. Afridi went for 23 runs in his first two overs and redeemed himself by bowling a tight third over at the death.
Afridi should not require any additional motivation to up his game, but if he needs it, he can draw inspiration from the fact that Tuesday will be his 100th T20 International. He will become the first Pakistan fast bowler to reach three figures in the format and he is also just four wickets behind Haris Rauf (133 wickets) in the all-time list of highest wicket takers in T20Is for Pakistan.
Afridi has been plagued with indifferent form over the last season and also recovered just in time for the World Cup after a recurrence of a long-standing knee issue late last year.
Afridi went wicketless in the infamous T20 World Cup defeat to USA and he was far from impressive against the Dutch. Pakistan can't afford another below par outing from Afridi as he will have to be in top form for the biggest match of the tournament – if it does happen – against India on Sunday.
Hectic negotiations are going on between the world body and subcontinent's cricket boards for the India v Pakistan match to go ahead as scheduled in Colombo this weekend. If the tournament organisers succeed in their quest, Pakistan will need Afridi to bring his A game.
