Pakistan bowling attack put up a spirited performance, with pacer Haris Rauf being the pick of them with three for 43, to ensure the team’s campaign began in style with an 81-run win over The Netherlands in the ICC Cricket World Cup match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on October 6.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam should have been clearly delighted with the way the bowlers – both pace and spin – stuck to the basics and struck at regular intervals.
The Dutch openers Vikramjit Singh and Bas de Leede, who scored half-centuries and put on 70 runs for the third wicket, batted well but the rest of the line-up couldn’t contribute much to the chase.
Vikramjit, on reaching half-century, couldn’t resist the temptation of going for another big shot against leg-spinner Shadab Khan only to be caught in the deep in the 24th over to leave the Dutch at 120 for three.
Then, De Leede had to watch on helplessly from the other end as the rest of the batters made a token appearance. And, when he was bowled trying to steer left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz to third-man in the 34th over to make it 164 for seven, it was only delaying the inevitable for Scott Edwards’ side.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling effort by The Netherlands on a near-perfect batting strip ensured Pakistan, put in to bat in front of a sparse 5,000-odd crowd, was restricted to 286 in 49 overs.
The top order suffered early blows and was 38 for three in 9.1 overs. Fakhar Zaman failed again, surprised by the change of pace by Logan van Beek to give a simple return catch in the fourth over.
Soon, off-spinner Colin Ackermann induced a poor pull stroke from captain Azam with his third ball to be caught at mid-on. Then, pacer Paul van Meekeren forced Imam-ul-Haq to hook straight to deep fine-leg to have Pakistan in dire straits.
Then, a 120-run stand off 114 balls for the fourth wicket between the experienced Mohammad Rizwan and southpaw Saud Shakeel and another rescue another rescue act by Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan, who put on 64 off 70 balls for the seventh wicket, helped Pakistan eventually post a challenging score.
For The Netherlands, pacer Bas de Leede struck two double-blows - first in the 32nd over when he cleaned up Rizwan with a beauty and saw Iftikhar Ahmed edge an away-going delivery to wicketkeeper Scot Edwards. Again, in the 44th over he bowled Shadab all ends up and trapped Hasan Ali lbw.
Scoreboard
Pakistan innings: Fakhar Zaman c & b van Beek 12, Imam-ul-Haq c Dutt b van Meekeren 15, Babar Azam c Zulfiqar b Ackermann 5, Mohammad Rizwan b de Leede 68, Saud Shakeel c Zulfiqar b Dutt 68, Iftikhar Ahmed c Edwards b de Leede 9, Mohammad Nawaz run out 39, Shadab Khan b de Leede 32, Hasan Ali lbw b de Leede 0, Shaheen Shah Afridi (not out) 13, Haris Rauf st. Edwards b Ackermann 16; Extras (w-8, nb-1): 9.
Total (in 49 overs): 286.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-34, 3-38, 4-158, 5-182, 6-188, 7-252, 8-252, 9-267
Netherlands bowling: Dutt 10-0-48-1, van Beek 6-0-30-1, Ackermann 8-1-39-2, van Meekeren 6-0-40-1, de Leede 9-0-62-4, van der Merwe 6-0-36-0, Vikramjit 2-0-16-0, Zulfiqar 2-0-15-0.
Netherlands Innings: Vikramjit Singh c Fakhar Zaman b Shadab Khan 52 Max ODowd c Shaheen Afridi b Hasan Ali 5 Colin Ackermann b Iftikhar Ahmed 17 Bas de Leede b Mohammad Nawaz 67 Teja Nidamanuru c Fakhar Zaman b Haris Rauf 5 Scott Edwards lbw b Haris Rauf 0 Saqib Zulfiqar lbw b Shaheen Afridi 10 Roelof van der Merwe run out (Babar Azam/Rizwan) 4 Logan van Beek not out 28 Aryan Dutt b Hasan Ali 1 Paul van Meekeren b Haris Rauf 7 Extras: (W-9) 9
Total: (10 wkts, 41 Overs) 205
Fall of Wickets: 1-28, 2-50, 3-120, 4-133, 5-133, 6-158, 7-164, 8-176, 9-184, 10-205.
Pakistan bowling: Shaheen Afridi 7-0-37-1, Hasan Ali 7-1-33-2, Haris Rauf 9-0-43-3, Iftikhar Ahmed 3-0-16-1, Mohammad Nawaz 7-0-31-1, Shadab Khan 8-0-45-1.
Toss: Netherlands.
