Pakistan take on the Netherlands tomorrow. Read our in-depth preview here…
Pakistan know there is little margin for error when they open their T20 World Cup campaign against the Netherlands tomorrow.
The Pakistan government’s decision to forfeit their game against India in solidarity with Bangladesh – who were excluded from the tournament – means Salman Agha’s team are already playing catch-up in Group A.
The top two qualify for the Super Eights so, in reality, Pakistan will have to win all their matches against the Netherlands, Namibia and the USA to qualify.
The first of those sees them take on the Dutch in Colombo.
Agha said: ”I don’t think there’s extra pressure. Whenever you come into an ICC tournament, you have to win almost all your games anyway. That’s the mindset we’ve come with, to play our best and win all of them.
“It is very important [to bring your A-game] because sometimes you haven’t played much against these sides, and we don’t really know their weakness and strengths, and the players as well.”
Pakistan certainly won’t come into the contest undercooked having played more T20I cricket than any other Full Member nation since the end of the last World Cup in 2024.
It has not always been plain-sailing – it rarely is in Pakistani cricket – but Agha has his side on a roll since taking over as captain in March with the 3-0 hammering of Australia in a warm-up series particularly eye-catching.
The Netherlands haven’t played a T20I since June and will hope to prey on Pakistan nerves to cause an upset.
That’s if the game takes place at all with the weather in Colombo unseasonably wet.
Agha added: ”The weather is not in our control. As a team, you only worry about what’s controllable. We [have] just won a series against Australia, and we just want to replicate that series here… Batting, bowling and fielding – just keep doing that in every single game.”
Netherlands opener Max O’Dowd says his team is as prepared as possible.
“I’m not going to come out here the day before a game and tell you what we’re going to exploit, there’s definitely areas that we speak about, we have our analysis meetings and there’s certain things with certain guys and that’s what we’ll try and exploit,” he said.
“But then again, you’ve got to understand, they’re very good players and sometimes plans work, sometimes they don’t, but you have to be as prepared as you can, which we feel we are.”
Team News for Netherlands v Pakistan
Opener Sahibzada Farhan is expected to return for Pakistan in a side reliant on spin bowlers. Babar Azam needs runs to justify his place but will be given the chance to cash in against the Associate Members.
The Dutch have gone with experience over youth with the likes of Roelof van der Merwe, Bas de Leede, Michael Levitt and Colin Ackermann all included in their 15-man squad.
Predicted line-ups for Netherlands v Pakistan
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (c, wk), Bas de Leede, Zach Lion-Cachet, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Kyle Klein, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed
How to watch Netherlands v Pakistan
The T20 World Cup will be shown exclusively live in the UK on Sky Sports. You can stream it on the Sky Go app.
For coverage elsewhere in the world, click HERE for details of your local rights holder.
Prediction
This is a nasty fixture for Pakistan. Despite Agha suggesting otherwise, there is huge pressure on his side to deliver given the political context that now surrounds the tournament.
The old heads in the Netherlands side will be looking to seize on any nervousness.
We’ll go with the form horse in Pakistan but this is unlikely to be straightforward.
