Aussies on the song but Pakistan score a narrow win over Dutch
Aussies on the song but Pakistan score a narrow win over Dutch: Pakistan was on the verge of losing to the Netherlands when their two Australian batters threatened to pull off an upset. However, Fakhar Zaman’s run-a-ball 109 rescued the day for Pakistan and prevented them from losing.
In the first of three one-day internationals that took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands challenged the superpower team Pakistan. Two Australians were among those who were batting for their countries during this match.
Runs
Former South Australian batter Tom Cooper hit a quick-fire 65 from 54 balls, and Victorian keeper-batter Scott Edwards threatened to pull off a surprising upset. However, 93 runs from the final 10 overs proved to be too much of a hurdle, and the visitors prevailed by 16 runs.
On Tuesday, Pakistan won the coin toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a sluggish start, but thanks to a century from Fakhar Zaman, they were able to overcome it and achieve a score of 6-314 from their 50 overs.
“They know their own conditions extremely well, they bowled pretty well in the first 10 overs, and they were making it difficult for us,” said Fakhar. “They bowled really well in the first 10 overs.”
“The partnership that we had with Babar Azam was extremely important for us, and we were just hoping for that partnership because we knew that in these conditions, if you play 25 to 30 overs, it will become easier at the end. We were just looking for that connection.”
“(Edwards) he played extremely well, but I particularly enjoyed Tom Cooper batting. I played a few games with him at Brisbane Heat, and he was at the peak of his form.
“In my opinion, they have a very respectable team, and when playing at their home venue, they have the ability to make things challenging for their opponents.”
“But none of the players are happy because we want to win the games but with great margins, and we will attempt to do that in the next game,” the coach said. “But we are going to strive to do that.”
Having labored to 0-3 after four overs, the situation deteriorated for the visitors, who reached 1-10 in six overs after Vivian Kingma took her first wicket. Imam-ul-Haq, who was batting for the visitors, was given out lbw following a referral by the Netherlands.
Fakhar, who batted as an opener, was the one who spearheaded the comeback by scoring 109 runs in 109 balls, including 12 fours and a six, before being run out.
Wickets
In order for Pakistan to produce a formidable total of 6-314, it was necessary for Fakhar and Babar to combine for a partnership of 168 runs for the second wicket. Babar scored 74 runs in 85 deliveries. Shadab Khan afterward hammered 48 runs not out off only 28 balls.
The best of the bowlers was the Dutch all-rounder Bas de Leede, who finished with two wickets and forty-two runs off of ten overs.
After being put into bat, the Netherlands were quickly reduced to 3-62 before Cooper and opener Vikram Singh (65 off 98) contributed 97 runs for the fourth wicket to bring the total to 362 for 4.
Edwards, the captain of the Netherlands, scored his fourth consecutive half-century in one-day internationals after passing 50 in each of the three matches against England in June. However, he had a difficult time finding an ally in the final overs as the Netherlands lost regular wickets to finish on 8-298 after 50 overs.
Haris Rauf (3-67) and Naseem Shah (3-51), two of Pakistan’s express quicks, were responsible for the majority of the damage.
This Thursday marks the second of three One-Day International matches that will take place in Rotterdam.