Paul van Meekeren (L) and Pakistan Cricket Team (R) (Source: AFP) The senior Netherlands pacer Paul van Meekeren is set to lead his team’s bowling attack against Pakistan in the tournament opener of the T20 World Cup 2026. Notably, the Dutch will take on the Men in Green in the tournament’s curtain raiser tomorrow at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. Meanwhile, Paul van Meekeren has given Pakistan a blunt wake-up call ahead of the first game of the 10th edition. During an exclusive interview with CREX, Meekeren didn’t mince his words when discussing the challenges and opportunities in the game against Pakistan. Here’s what Paul van Meekeren said about contest against PakistanThe 33-year-old pacer was asked whether the game Pakistan plays against the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup 2026 holds any special significance for the Dutch team, or if they are treating it just like any other game. In response, Paul van Meekeren came up with a straightforward answer, which Pakistan, as a full-time, wouldn’t have expected. “I think we are treating it as just any other game; though, it is a big game for us, but we also have four other teams to focus a bit more, including a bigger team like India, alongside two associates, the USA and Namibia. But we’re excited about the first game against Pakistan,” said Meekeren to CREX during an exclusive interview. “Hopefully, we can start with an upset in the tournament’s first game, as we did all the way back in 2009 when we played the tournament opener against England. We played the first game of the edition against them and won.” “I was there in the crowd as a young aspiring Dutch cricketer who wanted to play for the national team. Hopefully, I can do the same as a player now,” he added later.“I don’t think we’ll be surprised” - Dutch pacer’s dig at Pakistan’s pace bowlingAs the conversation continued further, Meekeren also spoke about the question of ‘Pakistan’s pride in their pace bowling unit’. He also responded to the question of whether it feels personal to him as a pacer himself. “Yeah, obviously, Pakistan have a very strong tradition of fast bowlers, we’re probably going to play in conditions they probably know better than us. We’ve been quite lucky to have played them in the 2022 T20 World Cup and the 2023 ODI World Cup, and we also played some ODIs against them in 2022,” he said. “I don't think we'll be surprised by what they bring in the T20 World Cup 2026 opener. We know their pacers pretty well.” “Having played so many games in the last few years against their four key players, that star-struck feeling is gone. So, we can focus on our own game, our own skills, and we are not scared of these guys,” Paul van Meekeren added later, dismissing any kind of fear from Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2026’s first game. Notably, the game between Pakistan and the Netherlands is going to be very crucial for both the teams to move forward in this T20 World Cup edition. Especially, for the Men in Green, it is going to be a do-or-die situation as they have to win all of their remaining three games, given their call to boycott the high-octane clash against the arch-rivals, India.
