It was a case of so close yet so far for the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup 2026’s opening match against Pakistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
Salman Agha and his team made heavy work of the 148-run chase, and the Netherlands were ever so close to pulling off an upset one for the ages. However, Max ODowd erred in the deep in the penultimate over of the game, dropping a relatively easy catch, paving the way for Faheem Ashraf to seal the deal for Pakistan. The left-handed batter played an unbeaten 29-run knock off 11 balls, including 24 runs of Logan van Beek’s over, to help Pakistan register a narrow three-wicket win with three balls to spare.
Netherlands pacer Paul van Meekeren was dejected after the loss in the tournament opener; however, he was quick to fire shots at the opposition, saying they didn’t win, rather it was a case of the Dutch losing against themselves. It is worth noting that van Meekeren brought the Netherlands back into the contest when Pakistan were going strong, dismissing Sahibzada Farhan (47) and Usman Khan (0) in the 12th over.
“I’m very proud of the guys, I mean, I think we probably didn’t get the runs on the board that we wanted, but to fight back after a strong start from Pakistan with the bat, it shows how the culture that we’ve created in the team and the never-give-up attitude. So yeah, I’m super proud – obviously catches win matches,” the pacer told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“I want to be very clear, Pakistan didn’t win the game today; we lost the game against ourselves. We were the better team today, especially in the bowling department, and we should have deserved to win that game,” he added.
‘Dropped catch costs Netherlands’
ODowd had the chance of winning the game for the Netherlands on the second delivery of the 19th over of the bowling of van Beek. Needing 23 runs of 11 balls, Pakistan were on the back foot, and it was then that Ashraf skied one ball up, but the Netherlands opening batter failed to grab on to the catch at long-on.
Ashraf then went on to hit 16 more runs in the over, bringing the equation to just five runs off the final over with three wickets in hand. The 32-year-old then managed to hit a four on the third ball of the final over, sealing the game for Pakistan.
When asked about the game-changing moment, van Meekeren said, “It’s probably quite clear the dropped catch in the end. They needed 29 in that last over, probably the last real recognised batter that’s in, first ball goes for six and you drop the catch, and then after that it’s six-six-four, something like that.”
“I mean, everyone who’s got a bit of brains in cricket probably knows that that catch is probably where we lost the game. Yeah, that’s what – someone needs to lose, and we lost against ourselves. We deserved to win that game, and we should have sent Pakistan home after today, so yeah, it’s a shame, but it is what it is,” he added.