Who won yesterday in ICC T20 World Cup 2026? What happened in India vs USA & Pakistan vs Netherlands matches?

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On an eventful opening day of the T20 World Cup 2026, India, Pakistan and West Indies registered respective victories against USA, Netherlands and Scotland respectively.

West Indies' Romario Shepherd took five wickets including a hattrick against Scotland in T20 World Cup 2026, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata.(PTI)

West Indies fast bowler Romario Shepherd, Pakistan's Faheem Ashraf and India captain Suryakumar Yadav grabbed headlines on an eventful opening day of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday. While Pakistan played Netherlands in Colombo, the remaining two games were played in Indian. It must be noted that Pakistan will play all their games on Sri Lankan soil.

The T20 World Cup 2026 started with Pakistan taking on Netherlands for the third time in history. Pakistan needed Saturday's win as it can ill afford to lose any Group A points after announcing it would boycott the February 15 match against India, a decision that shook the cricket world.

Batting first, Netherlands were all out for 147, losing the last six wickets for 20 runs, on an unusual grassy wicket. In reply, Pakistan were on course for an easy win before fast bowler Paul van Meekeren put the brakes on with the wickets of Sahibzada Farhan (47) and Usman Khan in the same over.

Babar Azam’s struggle in the T20I format continued too with a scratchy 15 off 18 balls. The Netherlands was on the cusp of an upset before Max O'Dowd gave Ashraf a life at long-on. Ashraf cut loose against Logan van Beek in a penultimate over that cost 24 runs and remained on unbeaten 29 runs off 11 balls to carry the former champions to 148/7 in 19.3 overs.

Romario Shepherd stars for West Indies

Shimron Hetmyer’s aggressive batting lifted the West Indies to a strong 182/5 before Shepherd's heroics led to Scotland being bowled out for 147 in 18.5 overs. Captain Richie Berrington made a fighting 42 but his dismissal in the 14th over saw Scotland collapse from 115/3.

Shepherd claimed the wickets of Matthew Cross and Michael Leask before knocking back the off stump of Oliver Davidson to achieve the hat trick. Safyaan Sharif offered a tame catch at mid-off at the end of the over as Scotland capitulated in its run chase.

Hetmyer smacked six sixes and two boundaries in the fastest half century by a West Indian batter at men's T20 World Cups, with Rutherford (26) and Rovman Powell (24) also playing little cameos. Left-arm fast bowler Brad Currie (2-23) picked up the wickets of Powell and Rutherford.

India survives American scare

India batted first after losing the toss and was in unexpected trouble at 46/4 and 118/7. Suryakumar came to the rescue and took the defending champions to 161/9 in its 20 overs by hitting 10 fours and four sixes.

Medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk impressed with figures of 4/25 in four overs, including the wickets of Ishan Kishan (20) and Tilak Varma (25). The target proved too much for the Americans, who scored 132-8.

With these wins, India and Pakistan occupy the top two slots in Group A. India are on top owing to better net run rate than Pakistan.