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Cricket

Pakistan wins ODI series opener by 16 runs against Netherlands

Netherlands lost the series opener by 16 runs after reaching 298/8 in 50 Overs. Pakistan set the Netherlands a 315-run goal in the opening ODI at Rotterdam’s Hazelaarweg. Pakistan scored 314 runs in 50 overs for six wickets, a strong total on this ground. Fakhar Zaman [109] got a century, and Babar Azam [74] and Shadab Khan [48] contributed to the score as well.

Netherlands began chasing 315 aggressively but lost wickets often. Netherlands shrugged off the early departures of Max O’Dowd and Wesley Barresi. Cooper provided energy to the innings while Vikramjit anchored, but both quickly began to take the assault to the bowlers.

netherlandsVikramjit Singh and Tom Cooper’s half-centuries kept them in the game, while Scott Edwards’ fourth fifty made Pakistan worry. Cooper was undone by Rauf’s wonderfully disguised slower ball, which the batsman top-edged to Babar at mid-off. After Vikramjit Singh botched a sweep shortly after, the Netherlands were forced to rebuild. Logan van Beek provided excellent assistance to Edwards, but when he holed up against Rauf, it was simply Edwards vs Pakistan.

Pakistan’s bowling was too excellent for the home team to meet a rising asking rate.

Babar Azam opened the match with the combination of the seasoned Haris Rauf and the youthful rookie Naseem Shah. The Pakistani players began with full force. Each took one wicket during the Powerplay and might have taken more if their fielders had held on to the catches.

Mohammad Nawaz dominated the middle overs of the game and was frugal, taking the sole wicket taken by a spinner. Haris Rauf took three wickets but was a little expensive, and Naseem Shah bowled brilliantly to grab three wickets. The major difficulty was the number of additional runs they let up in this game, with 29 added to the Dutch total. They finally won the game but there’s still potential for growth in all three aspects of batting, bowling and fielding for Pakistan. Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, expressed relief with the victory and commended the Netherlands for their fight and decent performance.

pakistanThe fixture’s three matches will all be played at the same location. The series is expected to be won by Babar Azam and his side, while the Netherlands will see it as an opportunity to contend against a strong-looking team.

“I am relieved. Fakhar scored a lovely century. The wicket was double-paced. We should have done better. These are challenging conditions. There was a bit of moisture on the wicket,” Babar told reporters.

Pakistan XI: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Imam ul Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Salman Agha, Shaheen Afridi, Zahid Mehmood.

Netherlands XI: Stephan Myburgh, Max O’Dowd, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Bas de Leede, Tom Cooper, Vikramjit Singh, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Clayton Floyd, Ryan Klein, Shariz Ahmad, Teja Nidamanuru, Vivian Kingma, Aryan Dutt

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