Pakistan starts World Cup fight with comfortable win

HYDERABAD: Pakistan bowled out Netherlands for 205 winning their opener match of World Cup 2023 at Hyderabad stadium on Friday.

The Green Shirts had made 286 runs in pursuit of which Netherlands’s opener Vikram Singh made 52 runs while all-rounder Bas de Leede remained top scorer with 67 runs.

An inspirational performance from Bas de Leede had once lifted Dutch hopes in their opening world cup game but Mohammad Nawaz’s magnificent delivery sent him back to pavilion, turning the match into Pakistan’s favour.

After his dismissal, no player could maintain the momentum, losing game to Pakistan. Hasan Ali took three wickets and Haris Rauf three wickets while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz grabbed one wicket each.

Hours earlier, Netherlands bowler Bas de Leede grabbed four wickets and restricted Pakistan from building a tough total in second match of the World Cup 2023 at Hyderabad Stadium on Friday. Leede and other bowling lineup bundled out Pakistan for 286 runs in 49 overs.

Green Shirts’ opening pair of Fakhar Zaman and Imamul Haq opened the innings but Zaman could not gain his ground and returned to pavilion with 15 runs on the board. He could score only 12 runs in 15 balls, peppered with 3 fours.

Like Zaman, skipper Babar Azam also failed to make an impact and returned to pavilion for just 5 runs in 18 balls. Moments later, it seemed Imamul Haq was also in a hurry and followed the skipper after scoring 15 runs off 19 balls. He hit two fours.