ODI World Cup 2023: Pakistan breath sigh of relief after avoiding upset against Netherlands

Pakistan has begun its World Cup 2023 campaign with a win against the Netherlands. Though, the win is a positive sign for the men in green but there are more worrying signs looking at how the team struggled in different phases.

The men in green are at peace after registering an important win against the Netherlands on Friday in their first World Cup game. However, the going was never easy for Pakistan as the Netherlands made it tough for the men in green.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and decided to field. Pakistan had a terrible start as their top order failed to perform any better. Fakhar Zaman was out for 12 runs while Imam-ul-Haq was out for 15 runs. But the biggest shocker came when Babar Azam was dismissed for just five runs.

The Netherlands had the best of the starts to the ODI World Cup 2023 game. However, Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel had a brilliant 120-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel scored 68 runs respectively.

The men in green also got some crucial runs from the lower order due to which Pakistan managed to score 286 runs in 49 overs. Bas de Leede was the star of the show for the Netherlands as he went on to pick up four wickets by giving away 62 runs in nine overs.

The Netherlands had a good start to the second inning as well. Vikramjit Singh was monumental in the start that the Netherlands team was enjoying. He scored 52 runs from 67 balls. Vikramjit Singh and Bas de Leede were taking the match from Pakistan’s hand until the wickets started crumbling.

The men in green came back into the game after Shadab Khan took the crucial wicket of Vikramjit Singh. There was no looking back for Pakistan from there as they were successful in constantly picking wickets. The Netherlands was all out for 205 runs in 41 overs as Pakistan won by 81 runs.