Paul van Meekeren, the Netherlands pacer, summed it up aptly — “Pakistan didn’t win the game today. We lost the game against ourselves.”
Pakistan were the favourites in their Group A match against the Dutch in Colombo on Saturday. Set a target of 148, Pakistan tied themselves up in all sorts of knots during the chase.
Pakistan were looking safe for the first part of their chase, but then lost five wickets for just 16 runs to slip into big trouble. At 114/7 in the 17th over, it looked like the Netherlands will pull off a major upset.
But all-rounder Faheem Ashraf played Pakistan’s saviour and the Dutch helped him on his course by dropping a golden chance to dismiss the left-handed batter.
Needing 29 runs from the last two overs, Ashraf hit three sixes and one four off Logan van Beek and finished off the match with a four in the
final over as Pakistan reached 148/7 in 19.3 overs. In between, Max O’Dowd dropped Ashraf when he was on 7 off the second ball of the 19th over. That slip changed the complexion of the game.
Ashraf hammered an unbeaten 29 off just 11 balls to be adjudged the Player of
the Match.
“We have been playing this brand of cricket for the past year. Heart rates go up and down, it’s happened so many times before, we’re used to it,” the 32-year-old Ashraf said when asked about Pakistan’s topsy-turvy ride to victory at the post-match presentation.
Pakistan captain Salman Agha conceded that his team won the match the hard way.
“We had to do it the hard way. Credit to Faheem. We tried well, knew they’d come hard. Held things really well,” said Salman.
“The first 10 overs we batted well, then two wickets fell and pressure came in. We need to absorb better.”
Dutch captain Scott Edwards lamented: “Small moments can come on to hurt you.”
Brief scores: Netherlands 147 in 19.5 ovs (Scott Edwards 37; Salman Mirza 3/24). Pakistan 148/7 in 19.3 ovs (Sahibzada Farhan 47, Faheem Ashraf 29 n.o.).
Pakistan won by 3 wkts.
With inputs from PTI
