Srinagar: Enduring several setbacks throughout the contest, Pakistan prevailed in the end to win its first match against the Netherlands by runs.
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, Pakistan lost its first three wickets in quick succession, before wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan alongside Saud Shakeel revived the team. The pair went on to dominate the opponents with both of them scoring their half centuries.
The newbie Saud Shakeel went after the Dutch bowling attack and reached his half-century in just 32 deliveries – the second fastest half century by any Pakistan batter in the history of the World Cup. The Rizwan-Shakeel pair put up a 120 stand for the fourth wicket.
After Shakeel’s fall, Rizwan and Iftikhar too fell shortly.
With cameos from Nawaz, Shadab and Rauf Pakistan put up a score of 286/10 in 49 overs.
Setting out to chase the target, Netherlands lost wickets in intermittent intervals before Bas de Leede and Vikramjit Singh steadied the innings.
Haris Rauf came back strongly to provide a breakthrough to his team by picking two important wickets. The other batters of Dutch also failed to negotiate the Pakistan bowling attack, conceding a defeat by 81 runs.
There are two matches lined up for tomorrow – Afghanistan and Bangladesh and the other between Sri Lanka and South Africa.
