Pakistan opens ICC T20 World Cup 2026 vs Netherlands

T20 World Cup – (Web Desk) – Salman Ali Agha will look to build on his team’s winning form as he leads Pakistan in the 10th edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, beginning in Sri Lanka and India on 7 February.

The 2025 Asia Cup runners-up will start their World Cup campaign on Saturday, facing the Netherlands at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club. The match is set to begin at 11:00 am local time (10:30 am PKT).

The tournament runs from 7 February to 8 March, with the Super 8s starting on 22 February and the semi-finals scheduled for 4 and 5 March.

This will be Salman’s debut in a major ICC event as captain. He has led Pakistan in 43 T20Is so far, claiming 27 victories.

Since the conclusion of the Asia Cup 2025, Green Shirts have played 13 T20Is, out of which, they have won 10, losing just three. Most recently, Pakistan registered their first-ever T20I clean sweep over Australia in a three-match T20I series held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Following the series, both Australia and Pakistan teams departed for Colombo on 2 February and their solitary warm-up games were washed out. In the meanwhile, Pakistan have taken part in two extensive training sessions.

Among Pakistan players, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Usman Khan have featured in previous editions of the tournament.

Pakistan captain, Salman Ali Agha, said: “We’ve come here to win the tournament, like every other team, and we expect our fans to back us as they always have. We’ll give our absolute best to win this World Cup. We’ve been playing really good cricket and haven’t lost a bilateral series since the Asia Cup. We’ve lost very few matches and the 3-0 clean sweep against Australia was a huge morale booster. We’re hoping to carry that momentum into the World Cup.

“Any team that qualifies for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is competitive. We’re not taking anything lightly; every team in our group is capable. Every player knows their role, the squad is well settled, and we hope to give our best in every game and win the tournament.

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“We haven’t played the cricket we’re capable of in recent global events, but our focus is on playing the brand of cricket we’ve shown in recent times and bringing the trophy home.”

Alongside lifting the trophy in 2009, Pakistan have finished runners-up twice (2007 and 2022) and have reached the semi-finals in 2010, 2012 and 2021. In 51 matches Pakistan has played to date in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, it has won 30.

Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq

First round groups:

Group A – India, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan and USA

Group B – Australia, Ireland, Oman, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

Group C – England, Italy, Nepal, Scotland and West Indies

Group D – Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and UAE