Pakistan beat Netherlands, India survive US scare in T20 World Cup
In opening day’s other match, West Indies’ Romario Shepherd claims 4 Scotland wickets in 5 balls, including a hat-trick, in comfortable win
Faheem Ashraf’s late assault rescued Pakistan in a three-wicket win over the Netherlands and the USA gave India a huge scare in Mumbai as the tournament co-hosts won by 29 runs on an eventful opening day of cricket’s T20 World Cup.
Pakistan needed Saturday’s win as they can ill afford to lose any Group A points after announcing they would boycott their February 15 match against India in Sri Lanka, a decision that shook the cricket world.
In the afternoon match in Kolkata, West Indies eased to a 35-run victory over Scotland, late Group C replacements for Bangladesh.
Romario Shepherd grabbed five for 20 – including four wickets in the match-changing 17th over – and Shimron Hetmyer hit a 22-ball half-century.
The Pakistan Cricket Board accused the global governing body International Cricket Council of double standards in ousting Bangladesh from the 20-nation tournament, and the boycott controversy appeared to affect the team as they crashed to 114 for seven in Colombo.
But Ashraf smashed an unbeaten 29 off 11 balls to carry the 2009 champions to a winning total of 148 for seven with three balls to spare.