PAKISTAN VS NETHERLAND 1ST ODI HIGHLIGHTS.

 OVER VIEW:

Pakistan defeats the tenacious Netherlands with the aid of Zaman, Babar, and Naseem.

Pakistan 314 for 6 (Fakhar 109, Babar 74, de Leede 2-42) beat Netherlands 298 for 8 (Edwards 71*, Cooper 65, Naseem 3-51)  Pakistan win by 16 runs.

Pakistan almost paid the price for leaving a few runs on the table in the first innings, but brilliant death bowling from their three pacers saved the batsmen and helped the visitors defeat Netherlands by 16 runs.

Netherlands made a promising start in their pursuit of 315 runs but were constantly constrained by consistent wicket losses. Vikramjit Singh and Tom Cooper both scored half-centuries to keep them in the game, and Scott Edwards' fourth consecutive half-century made Pakistan sweat. However, Pakistan's bowling was a touch too good for the home side to match an ever-increasing asking rate because the skipper did not receive assistance from the other end.

Although Pakistan had begun the match calmly, the Netherlands realised that any hope of success would need taking a lot of risks. They ignored the early losses of Wesley Barresi and Max O'Dowd, the latter of whom was dismissed by a picture-perfect inswinger from Rauf that clattered into off stump. Cooper gave the innings a boost while Vikramjit anchored, but soon both started attacking the bowlers.

Every time Pakistan gave it their all, they were successful, with rookie Naseem Shah being the best of the bunch. He was the one who frequently went full, constantly threatening the pads and frequently striking them, maintaining lbw in the game. The Netherlands, however, found themselves far ahead of Pakistan at the same period as the Cooper-Vimkramjit collaboration expanded. In Rotterdam, a small group of Dutch supporters began to dream despite being vastly outnumbered by Pakistani fans.

Rauf, however, undid Cooper with a superbly concealed slower ball that the batter top-edged to Babar Azam at mid-off as the stand neared 100. Soon later, Vikramjit Singh botched a sweep, forcing the Netherlands to start over. They successfully accomplished this with a 55-run sixth wicket partnership, with in-form hitter Edwards picking up where he left off against England. The Netherlands had renewed hope after Nawaz's six and four, which were followed by a series of boundaries from Shadab Khan.

The raw pace and great skill of Pakistan's pace trio of Wasim, Naseem, and Rauf, however, started to show the disparity between the two teams. Netherlands had a far harder time getting the quick bowlers away than Pakistan, who were able to score 88 in the final eight. Although Logan van Beek provided excellent assistance for Edwards, when he lost against Rauf, it was essentially Pakistan and Edwards. Despite the captain's abilities, that was ultimately too hot to manage.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first on a surface that appeared very inviting for batting – both Babar and Scott Edwards indicated they fancied setting a goal. With only three runs scored in the opening four overs, they got off to an overly cautious start and fell to 10 for 1 when an uncharacteristically erratic Imam ul Haq was caught in front by Vivian Kingma.

Although Bas de Leede, by far the finest Dutch bowler on the day, frequently beat the outside edge, Babar's arrival calmed some concerns, he too had trouble getting going. But when the stage was established, three fours in the tenth over softly pushed the momentum in Pakistan's favour.

In the middle overs, Netherlands appeared particularly feeble, but to be fair, most bowling teams do against Pakistan's top three. When Fakhar hit Kingma over the on side for the game's first six in the 26th over, only for Babar to follow it up with one in the following over, the massive score Pakistan was expected to produce appeared to be a formality. Fakhar had an unsettling rhythm.

That would change when Tom Cooper was struck by an errant ball from Babar over mid-off off Logan van Beek, leaving the Pakistani skipper 26 runs shy of another century. Fakhar made no mistakes in getting his in the following over, hammering Aryan Dutt for three fours, but a poorly timed run saw him returned for 109. De Leede and Tim Pringle were able to exert some degree of control when Pakistan's flimsy middle order was made clear.

Shadab, however, had other plans for the execution. He took advantage of Netherlands' carelessness with the bat and the ball as well as in the field to smash four fours and two sixes on his way to an unbeaten 28-ball 48 as Pakistan scored 88 runs off the final eight overs. Only de Leede escaped punishment; Pakistan managed just seven runs in the 50th over, which was marked by the bowler's unwavering precision and control. They nearly had a good enough total to hold out the home team, but in the final two games, the bowlers may urge the hitters to give them a little more wiggle room.