Pakistan beats Netherlands by 81 runs in first match

Hyderabad: In the second match of International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's World Cup 2023, Pakistan got off to a winning start in the event by easily defeating the Netherlands by 81 runs.

In pursuit of Pakistan's target of 287 runs, Netherlands team was bowled out for 205 runs in 41 overs, Bes de Leda scored 67 runs and Vikramjeet Singh scored 52 runs.

Haris Rauf took three wickets and Hasaan Ali took two wickets.

Team Pakistan started their innings in ICC Men's Cricket World Cup played in Hyderabad Deccan yesterday (Friday), where Netherlands won the toss and decided to field first against Pakistan.

The entire team of Pakistan was all out for 286 runs in 49 overs. Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan stood out by scoring 68 runs each.

Pakistani squad

Pakistan team for the match against Netherlands included captain Babar Azam, Imamul Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali.

Pakistan's innings

Pakistan's opening batsmen Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq started the innings, but the Pakistani batsmen struggled to face the Dutch bowlers from the beginning of the innings.

After the top order of the national team failed, Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel took over the team and score above 100.

Saud Shakeel showed excellent batting performance and scored a brilliant fifty off 32 balls. He hit 9 fours and a six.

Wicket keeper batsman Muhammad Rizwan also completed 50 runs with the help of 6 fours while batting well. But Saud Shakeel returned to the pavilion after scoring 68 runs in the 29th over of the game.

After that, Pakistan's fifth wicket also fell on 182 runs, wicketkeeper batsman Muhammad Rizwan got out after playing an innings of 68 runs off 75 balls. Muhammad Iftikhar also returned to the pavilion for nine runs while Shadab Khan also scored 32 runs with the team.

After that, Muhammad Nawaz played an innings of 39 runs while Hasan Ali returned to the pavilion for a score. Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi took the score to 286 runs in the final overs.

However, Haris was stumped after scoring 16 runs, thus the entire Pakistan team was bowled out for 286 runs in 49 overs. Shaheen remained not out after scoring 13 runs.

Bess de Leda took four wickets for the Netherlands, while Ackerman took two wickets. Ariane Dutt, Logan van Beek and Paul van McRae took one wicket each.

Netherlands innings

In pursuit of the target, Netherlands got off to a cautious start, but their first wicket fell for 28 when opener Max O'Dowd was caught off Hassan Ali for five, followed by Colin Ackerman's 17 off Iftikhar Ahmed bowled on the ball.

Netherlands suffered their third loss in the form of set batsman Vikramjeet Singh, who was bowled out for 52 runs, followed by newcomer Teja Ndamanuru for just five runs and then Scott Edwards was dismissed by Haris Rauf for a wicket.

Apart from this, Saqib Zulfiqar scored 10 runs and was LBW off Shaheen. Netherlands suffered their seventh loss in the form of set-beater Bess De Leda, who was bowled for 67 runs by Mohammad Nawaz.

In addition, Van Beek scored 28, van der Merwe scored four more runs and Paul van Meekren scored seven runs, thus the entire Netherlands team was bowled out in 41 overs.

Haris Rauf took three wickets and Hassan Ali took two wickets while Shaheen Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan took one wicket each.

Pakistan's Saud Shakeel was awarded the man of the match award for his brilliant batting.