Faheem Ashraf on catch drop [Source: X]Known for his tail-end heroics with the bat, Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf pulled off a heroic stance with the bat to guide Pakistan home in their inaugural clash in T20 World Cup 2026. Faheem Ashraf scored a blitzkrieg 29 off 11 to save a sinking Pakistan ship as Pakistan won the match by 3 wickets. Earlier, the Netherlands gave a target of 148 runs for Pakistan to chase, which ended in a nightmare after Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan fell rapidly in the 13-15 over phase. Faheem Ashraf pulls off tense chaseAs Pakistan came to chase the Netherlands target at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on February 7, Sahibzada Farhan gave firing starts even though Saim Ayub fell early. Salman Ali Agha failed too, with Babar Azam following next. As soon as Pakistan’s hopes for the game died, Faheem Ashraf came in to turn the tables for his team. From the last 18 balls, 33 runs were required, with the win percentage meter reading a 42.64% probability for the team. The next over from Paul van Meekeren was tight with only 4 runs leaked and Pakistan still needing 29 off 12. The 19th over turned to be the turning point. Max O’Dowd, however, dropped a catch of Faheem Ashraf on the second ball of the 19th over, and Ashraf made the most of the chance as he slammed two sixes and a boundary to reduce the equation to just five runs needed off the final six deliveries. Faheem Ashraf elaborates on 'catch drop' momentSpeaking after the match on the crucial moment, Ashraf revealed what he felt during the tense moment as Max dropped the catch. “That over was a very critical phase of the innings. And yes, when the ball goes up in the air, it’s not just your tongue - every part of your body starts praying - Ya Allah, let it drop, let it drop,” Ashraf said. Bas de Leede was taken to the cleaners in the last over as the chase was completed with three balls remaining and Pakistan registered their first win for the T20 World Cup 2026. Speaking on the pressure Faheem felt during the chase, especially against a team like Netherlands, Ashraf was descriptive with his experience on the crease. “To be honest, as we’ve spoken about before, we’ve been playing this kind of cricket consistently for the last year or so. Whenever a job is given to us, the effort is always to do it in the best possible way. As for the heartbeat, I’ve been in these kinds of situations many times in my career, so it wasn’t something completely new for me. The mindset was simple - whatever the situation is, go out there and do what you know best,” Ashraf said. Ashraf on completing the game for PakistanAshraf was happy to finish the game on behalf of his team as he shared how he controlled himself to play a composed innings. “As a team, situations like this do come up. Our effort is always to finish games early, especially when we’re cruising. But sometimes the team collapses, and then you have to work hard till the end. In such moments, controlling your nerves is very important. If you look at our team, even when things go wrong, we manage to keep our nerves under control, and because of that, we often get a good result in the end,” Ashraf added. Nevertheless, with this win, Pakistan will register 2 points on the points table of Group A and will look forward to their next clash on February 10 against the USA at the SSC Cricket Ground.
