HYDERABAD: Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel hit identical half-centuries in an otherwise underwhelming batting effort in their World Cup opener against the Netherlands on Friday, before the bowlers sealed a routine 81-run win for the 1992 champions.

Faced with an achievable target of 287, the Dutch looked on course for a stunning win in Hyderabad at one stage as Vikramjit Singh (52) and Bas de Leede (67) got going, but Pakistan kept chipping away to dismiss the underdogs for 205 in 41 overs.

De Leede ripped through the Pakistan line-up taking 4-62 and Colin Ackerman claimed 2-39 after the Netherlands won the toss and decided to bowl, but Rizwan (68) and Saud (68) ensured the Asian side made 286 in 49 overs.

Haris Rauf took 3-43 and was the pick of the Pakistan attack that was missing the injured Naseem Shah and he finished the job by bowling out Paul van Meekeren.

De Leede was in a menacing mood as he smashed six fours and two sixes, including a hooked shot over the boundary off paceman Haris.

He celebrated that shot by cheekily winking at Haris, who had struck the all-rounder in the face with a fiery bouncer during last year’s Twenty20 World Cup.

But the 23-year-old De Leede was clean-bowled by Mohammad Nawaz and the Dutch challenge fizzled out despite some late hitting by Logan van Beek.

Pakistan were tottering at 38-3 at one point and captain Babar Azam said he was happy to come away with a victory.

“I’m satisfied,” said Babar, who thanked the Hyderabad fans after their first game in India in seven years. “Credit to the bowlers, we started well and took wickets in the middle overs to put the pressure on them. After we lost three wickets while batting, Rizwan and Shakeel started building the momentum... the way Saud built his innings shows his improvement.”

The Netherlands justified the decision to bowl first on a flat Rajiv Gandhi Stadium pitch as fast bowler van Beek had out-of-form opener Fakhar Zaman caught and bowled for 12 in the fourth over.

The Netherlands turned the heat up by taking the prized wicket of Babar for five. Babar barely looked settled during his 18-ball stint on a dry track that offered plenty of turn and bounce early on and the skipper pulled one to Saqib Zulfiqar at mid-wicket in spinner Colin Ackermann’s first over.

Pakistan limped to 43-3 in the 10 powerplay overs after Imam-ul-Haq holed out in the deep, but middle-order batsmen Rizwan and Shakeel — playing their first World Cup match — steadied the ship with a fourth-wicket partnership of 120.

The Dutch, playing in their first World Cup match since 2011 after coming through the qualifying event, responded as spinner Aryan Dutt had Saud, who struck nine boundaries and a six, caught while De Leede shattered Rizwan’s stumps and had Iftikhar Ahmed for nine.

Pakistan were further lifted as Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32) added 64 for the seventh wicket but De Leede dismissed Shadab and Hasan Ali off successive deliveries.

Nawaz was run out in the 47th over before Haris’ dismissal by Ackerm­ann finished the innings.

The Netherlands lost Max O’Dowd (five) and Ackermann (17) before De Leede and Singh led the recovery with a 70-run stand for the third wicket.

Singh, who hit four boundaries and a six, holed out to spinner Shadab before pacer Haris removed Teja Nidamanuru (five) and rival skipper Scott Edwards without scoring.

Van Beek hit three boundaries and a six in his run-a-ball 28 to prolong the resistance but Haris dismissed Van Meekeren for seven to give his team the victory.

“It’s a bit disappointing. We bowled and fielded well. They made a few runs at the end there but we felt like that was a par score,” said Dutch captain Edwards.

“At 120-2 we felt we were well and truly in the game. De Leede is a quality cricketer in all three departments. His innings was awesome, we just needed someone to be with him.”

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c and b van Beek 12

Imam-ul-Haq c Dutt b van Meekeren 15

Babar Azam c Zulfiqar b Ackermann 5

Mohammad Rizwan b de Leede 68

Saud Shakeel c Zulfiqar b Dutt 68

Iftikhar Ahmed c Edwards b de Leede 9

Mohammad Nawaz run out 39

Shadab Khan b de Leede 32

Hasan Ali lbw b de Leede 0

Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 13

Haris Rauf st Edwards b Ackermann 16

EXTRAS (NB-1, W-8) 9

TOTAL (all out, 49 overs) 286

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Fakhar), 2-34 (Babar), 3-38 (Imam), 4-158 (Saud), 5-182 (Rizwan), 6-188 (Iftikhar), 7-252 (Shadab), 8-252 (Hasan), 9-267 (Nawaz)

BOWLING: Dutt 10-0-48-1 (2w); van Beek 6-0-30-1 (1w); Ackermann 8-1-39-2; van Meekeren 6-0-40-1 (2w); de Leede 9-0-62-4 (3w); van der Merwe 6-0-36-0 (1nb); Singh 2-0-16-0; Zulfiqar 2-0-15-0

NETHERLANDS:

V. Singh c Fakhar b Shadab 52

M. O’Dowd c Shaheen b Hasan 5

C. Ackermann b Iftikhar 17

B. de Leede b Nawaz 67

T. Nidamanuru c Fakhar b Haris 5

S. Edwards lbw b Haris 0

S. Zulfiqar lbw b Shaheen 10

R. van der Merwe run out 4

L. van Beek not out 28

A. Dutt b Hasan 1

P. van Meekeren b Haris 7

EXTRAS (W-9) 9

TOTAL (all out, 41 overs) 205

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 (O’Dowd), 2-50 (Ackermann), 3-120 (Singh), 4-133 (Nidamanuru), 5-133 (Edwards), 6-158 (Zulfiqar), 7-164 (de Leede), 8-176 (van der Merwe), 9-184 (Dutt)

BOWLING: Shaheen 7-0-37-1 (2w); Hasan 7-1-33-2 (4w); Haris 9-0-43-3 (2w); Iftikhar 3-0-16-1; Nawaz 7-0-31-1; Shadab 8-0-45-1 (1w)

RESULT: Pakistan won by 81 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Saud Shakeel

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2023