The Pakistani cricket team started their campaign in the World Cup 2023 with a match against the Netherlands where they are struggling while batting first against the European team and their first 6 batsmen have returned to the pavilion for 188 runs.
The Pakistani team looked in trouble early on as their first out was opening batsman Fakhar Zaman who was dismissed for 12 off 15 balls before being caught by Logan Weinbeek on his own ball.
After that, the captain Babar Azam also could not stay at the crease for long and after facing 18 balls he got out for only 5 runs, he was caught out by Colin Ackerman off the ball of Saqib Zulfiqar.
Pakistan’s third batsman to be dismissed was opener Imam-ul-Haq who lost his wicket after scoring 15 runs off 19 balls, caught by Saqib Zulfiqar off Paul van McCrenn.
After that, wicketkeeper batsmen Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel came to the crease and scored their half-centuries in a convincing fashion to push the team’s score.
Pakistan’s fourth player to get out was Saud Shakeel who returned to the pavilion after scoring 68 runs, he was dismissed by Saqib Zulfiqar.
Mohammad Rizwan got out after scoring 68 runs while Iftikhar Ahmed could only score 9 runs.
The Netherlands won the toss and elected to bowl first against the Green Shirts in the match being played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, while Shaheen is determined to start the tournament on a winning note with a win against a less experienced side.
The Netherlands captain won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat and decided to bowl.
Talking after the toss, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that we will try to show our best performance.
He said that we have confidence in our openers and that they will provide a good start.
He said that for this match, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Hasan Ali have returned to the team, and we will try to score more than 300 runs.
Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam (Captain), Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Netherlands squad: Vikram Jeet Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackerman, Bas de Lide, Teja Ndamanuru, Scott Edwards, Saqib Zulfikar, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Paul van McCren
It should be noted that Australia defeated Pakistan by 14 runs in the second warm-up match before the World Cup after an interesting encounter, while earlier they also faced defeat against New Zealand.
It may be noted that this ODI match between Pakistan and Holland is the seventh match between the two and since 1996 Pakistan has won all six matches.
Yesterday, captain Babar Azam said that our preparations are very good, we have been in Hyderabad for a week and we have tried different combinations in two practice matches and given every player a chance to see if he can play in every situation. So we are ready to give our best.
He said that the Pakistani team is among the favorite teams in this World Cup and has won 24 out of 36 matches in the recently concluded World Cup cycle.
Apart from this, Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur while holding a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday before Pakistan’s first match in the World Cup said that our team plays its own style of cricket which is called the Pakistani brand of cricket, this style of cricket. Only the Pakistani team plays and hopefully, we will win the World Cup by playing this brand of cricket.
Mickey Arthur said that our bowling attack is very good and our bowlers have the ability to defend when runs are on the scoreboard.