T20 World Cup: Pakistan makes winning start, defeats Netherlands by 3 wickets after thrilling match
- Green shirts achieve 148 runs target in last over
Pakistan made a winning start by defeating the Netherlands by 3 wickets in the opening match of the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
After winning the toss in Colombo, Pakistan decided to bowl first. In the first innings, the entire Netherlands team was bowled out for 147 runs in 19.5 overs.
In a difficult situation after losing 7 wickets for 114 runs, Faheem Ashraf saved the team from defeat by playing an aggressive innings of 29 runs off 11 balls. Shaheen Afridi remained not out after scoring 5 runs.
Pakistan achieved the target of 148 runs in the last over for the loss of 7 wickets.
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For Pakistan, Sahibzada Farhan 47, Saim Ayub 24, Babar Azam 15, captain Salman Ali Agha 12, Shadab Khan 8, Muhammad Nawaz 6 and Usman Khan were dismissed without scoring any runs.
For the Netherlands, off-spinners Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meeker took 2 wickets each, while Vander Merwe, Logan van Beek and Kyle Klein took one wicket each.
In the first innings, the Netherlands had Michael Lewitt 24, Max O’David 5, Colin Ackerman 20, Bas de Leed 30, captain Scott Edwards 37, Logan van Beek 0, Zach Laine Keshe 9, Vander Marwa 4, Aryan Dutt 13 and Paul van Meekeran out without scoring any runs.
For Pakistan, Salman Mirza took 3 wickets, Muhammad Nawaz, Saim Ayub, and Abrar Ahmed took 2 wickets each, while Shaheen Shah Afridi took one wicket.
Faheem Ashraf was adjudged the player of the match for his brilliant batting display.
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After the match, Faheem Ashraf said, “We have been playing this style of cricket for the past one year. Heartbeats keep going up and down, this has happened many times before and now we have become accustomed to it.”
“Shaheen and I were talking about saving wickets, we knew we could get the runs we wanted in one over. When the ball is in the air, all you want is for it to fall (safely) to the ground,” he said.
Fahm Ashraf added that our effort is to end the matches quickly, but in such a situation you have to control your nerves.
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