Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf's cameo of 29 saw the team chase down the tricky 148-run target with three deliveries left to spare against Netherlands in the opening match of the T20 World Cup. It looked like the Netherlands would cause a major upset in the first game of the tournament itself, but Ashraf made sure that the Men in Green started off their campaign on a high note.
After being invited to bat first at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo, Netherlands failed to get off to a strong start and lost opener Max O' Dowd to Salman Mirza in the fourth over for just five runs. Michael Levitt would get dismissed in the next over to Mohammad Nawaz. The duo of Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann tried to steady the innings, but Abrar Ahmed would bring the 33-run partnership to an end by getting rid of the latter in the eighth over.
Pakistan's impressive bowling display
Skipper Scott Edwards and de Leede helped Netherlands cross the 100-run mark, but Nawaz would get the important breakthrough for Pakistan in the 13th over. After de Leede got dismissed for 30, Edwards also failed to post a big score and lost his wicket for 37 runs to Abrar. Netherlands went on to lose their remaining five wickets in the space of just 20 runs and got bundled out for 147 runs. Mirza was the pick of the bowlers, recording figures of 3/24 while the trio of Nawaz, Abrar and Saim Ayub all clinched two scalps each.
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In reply, Pakistan lost both Ayub and captain Salman Ali Agha within the powerplay, but Sahibzada Farhan kept on scoring runs from the other end. He took the team close to the 100-run mark and was on the brink of registering a half-century when Paul van Meekeren got his wicket for 47 runs.
The Men in Green would go through a mini batting collapse following Farhan's wicket. While Usman Khan got dismissed for a duck, Babar Azam perished for 15. Shadab Khan and Nawaz also lost their wickets cheaply for eight and six runs respectively as Pakistan went down to 114/7 at one stage.
Faheem's match-winning cameo
However, it was Faheem who took them over the finish line with an excellent performance mainly in the 19th over. He smashed three huge sixes and a boundary in the over as pacer Logan van de Beek gave away 24 runs, leaving Pakistan just five runs shy from the target. The left-hand would eventually score the winning runs in the final over as Agha & Co. survived a scare in their opening match of the T20 World Cup. The Men in Green's next encounter will be against USA on February 10.