Pakistan, on Saturday (February 7), started their marketing campaign within the T20 World Cup 2026 with an exciting win over Netherlands. The Males in Inexperienced have been on the verge of struggling a shock loss however finally managed to cross the ending line.
Batting first, Netherlands have been all out for 147 runs. Captain Scott Edwards was the top-scorer for his facet, scoring 37 runs off 29 balls. The likes of Michael Levitt (24), Bas de Leede (30) and Colin Ackermann (30) acquired the begins as properly however none of them managed to transform it into an enormous rating.
For Pakistan, Salman Mirza was the decide of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets for twenty-four runs whereas Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed and Saim Ayub claimed two wickets apiece.
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In reply, Pakistan chased down the entire with three balls remaining however not earlier than having a mighty scare. At 98/3 after 11 overs, Pakistan have been trying destined to chase down the entire with ease. Nonetheless, an inexplicable batting collapse noticed them getting decreased to 114/7 from 98/3.
Ultimately, the equation was right down to 29 runs off the final two overs. Netherland have been properly on high at that stage earlier than Faheem Ashraf turned the sport on its head by smashing 24 runs off the nineteenth over. Max O’Dowd dropped him in the identical over and the Pakistan allrounder made essentially the most of it. He finally remained unbeaten on 29 runs off simply 11 balls and was adjudged the Participant of the Match for his efforts.
Ramiz Raja faces criticism:
Former Pakistan cricketer-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja grabs the limelight from time to time because of his penchant for uncommon remarks on air. And he was at it once more after the sport between Pakistan and Netherlands in Colombo.
He was interviewing the captains after the match and raised plenty of eyebrows along with his comment for Netherlands captain Scott Edwards. Ramiz Raja addressed the Netherlands captain with the comment: “Thanks for offering such a difficult recreation for all of us.”
The remark was perceived by many as patronising quite than complimentary as plenty of social media customers bashed Ramiz Raja for it. They identified that the remark from Ramiz Raja undermined Netherlands’ skills.
As far was Edwards was involved, he dealt with the second with composure and shared his views on the match, saying: “We most likely felt 160 most likely was going to provide us a good probability. So we have been slightly bit underneath and we needed to bowl properly to get ourselves in there. And clearly a few spells from Roelof (van der Merwe) and Pauly (van Meekeran) acquired us proper within the recreation. I believe it is a fairly good wicket.
“Pakistan acquired it right down to a run a ball at one stage there and Pauly bowled an over, I believe he bowled a maiden or one thing (double-wicket maiden). After which one which went for not many to essentially get that run charge up. And, and the boys kind of jumped on that momentum. You realize typically cricket is usually a merciless recreation,” he added.
