SATURDAY T20 WORLD CUP: The Edge previews Pakistan v Netherlands with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Pakistan v Netherlands
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The T20 World Cup 2026 finally gets underway in Colombo on Friday morning as Pakistan face the Netherlands in the opening match of the tournament on Betdaq Betting Exchange . Co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, the tournament has been marred in drama for weeks now. Bangladesh refused to play in India, and the ICC kicked them out to be replaced by Scotland and now we come into the tournament with Pakistan refusing to play India. As we all know, the ICC make a tonne of money when India and Pakistan meet at ICC events – mainly because they don’t play each other outside of ICC events because of political reasons.
Pakistan’s government announced they will boycott their scheduled February 15th match against India at the Premadasa in Colombo – a decision taken in solidarity with Bangladesh. The Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi accused the ICC of ‘double standards’ in how they handled the Bangladesh situation. Former England captain Nasser Hussain has waded into the debate, questioning whether the ICC would have been as strict with India had the roles been reversed. Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Hussain asked: ‘If India, a month before a tournament, said their government does not want us to play in a country for a World Cup, would the ICC have been so firm and said, you know the rules, bad luck, we’re knocking you out?’ Hussain added that he ‘actually quite like Bangladesh sticking to their guns’ and ‘quite like Pakistan sticking up for Bangladesh as well’ which was quite brave of him to be honest!
The boycott means Pakistan will start the tournament with a two-point deficit and a massive negative net run-rate hit, effectively making their three remaining group games against Netherlands, USA and Namibia must-win encounters. The joke from Indian fans was if they lose against the Netherlands here, will they play India then! It’s a shame off-field drama has dominated the discussion coming into the tournament, but here we are!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We start the tournament in Colombo, and anyone who followed the recent Sri Lanka v England series will know there has been rain around Sri Lanka. Netherlands had their warm-up game washed out too. Unfortunately, the weather forecast isn’t great – there’s a 70% chance of rain during the scheduled match window with scattered thunderstorms expected – Sri Lanka weather can be very hit-and-miss though. You’d just have to keep an open mind on conditions here; it’s going to be a game to keep an eye on the radar, and it’s exceptionally difficult to know what a par score is – another big question is are we even going to get a 20 over game.
RECOMMENDED BET:
There’s a big gulf in class here; there’s no getting away from that. Netherlands had to come through a European qualifier – even getting here is a big achievement and a big boost for them given the money issues for the smaller nations. Pakistan are heavy odds on favourites here and understandably so – they are trading as short as 1.07 at the time of writing and it’s hard to see past an easy Pakistan win to be honest. With a price like that, we’ll have to wait and see will there be opportunities in-play rather than having a pre-off bet.
The Edge Says:
No Bet.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/CWPaNe
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
The absolute first priority here is watching the weather radar. If we’re looking at a full 20-over game with no rain interruptions, then Pakistan’s should be a 1.01 train to be honest. However, with scattered thunderstorms forecast you never know how things might work out. Netherlands will need the luck of the weather on their side, and to be honest the shorter the format the closer it should bring the sides. In that scenario, I’d be very careful about getting heavily involved on Pakistan at short odds. Netherlands have some world class players that can shine in a 5 over game!
