Hyderabad: Star Netherlands all-rounder Bas de Leede did all he could, but Pakistan put up an improved bowling effort to pick up an 81-run victory in their World Cup opener here Friday. De Leede (4/62) took four wickets with his medium-pace to restrict Pakistan to 286 all out in 49 overs.
The Dutch were in the run chase till opener Vikramjit Singh (52, 67b, 4×4, 1×6) and de Leede (67, 68b, 6×4, 2×6) were in the middle. The two had put on 70 runs for the third wicket. However, once Vikramjit fell, the Dutch resistance folded quickly and they were eventually bowled out for 205.
Pakistan’s bowling, which was found wanting in the warm-up games, delivered in the middle-overs. Haris Rauf (3/43) hurried the middle-order duo of Teja Nidamanuru and Scott Edwards to strike twice in the 27th over.
Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/37) trapped Saqib Zulfikar in front with a fast and full ball to make it 158 for six and when left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (1/37) dismissed De Leede with a beauty, it was game over for the associate team in the competition.
With minimal foot movement, Vikramjit’s stroke play against Shaheen in the power play was effective as he collected three boundaries off the star pacer. De Leede’s six over wide long-on against the turn off Nawaz stood out in his sublime knock.
Earlier, Pakistan suffered two mini collapses in their innings, one at the top of the order and the other one after a 120-run stand off 114 balls between Mohammad Rizwan (68, 75b, 8×4) and Saud Shakeel (68, 52b, 9×4, 1×6) for the fourth wicket.
While De Leede got the important breakthroughs in the middle-overs, off-spinners Aryan Dutt (1/48) and Colin Ackermann (2/39) got a lot out of the Hyderabad surface.
Playing their first World Cup game in 12 years, the Netherlands used as many as eight bowling options after opting to field. Early on, they rocked the Pakistan innings picking up three early wickets including that of skipper Babar Azam. At one stage Pakistan were looking down at the barrel with the score reading 38 for three.
Rizwan and Saud gave the innings much-needed stability. Shakeel, playing only his seventh ODI, was particularly impressive against the spinners. His effort included nine fours and six via a slog sweep off Roelof Van der Merwe.
De Leede broke the stand by removing Rizwan with a ball that cut back in to sneak through the batter’s defence. From 188 for six, Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32) forged a 64-run partnership to take the team past the 275-run mark.
Pakistan were on course to reach 300 but De Leede got rid of Shadab and Hasan Ali off successive balls to put the brakes on their scoring.
Brief scores: Pakistan 286 in 49 overs (Saud Shakeel 68, Mohammad Rizwan 68, Mohammad Nawaz 39, Bas de Leede 4/62) beat The Netherlands 205 in 41 overs (Bas de Leede 67, Vikramjit Singh 52, Harris Rauf 3/43) by 81 runs.
