Bowlers guide Pakistan to victory over Netherlands in their World Cup opener

HYDERABAD: Netherlands' star all-rounder Bas de Leede did all he could, but Pakistan put up an improved bowling effort to pick up an 81-run victory in their World Cup opener in Hyderabad on Friday.

De Leede took four wickets with his medium-pace as a resolute Netherlands limited Pakistan to 286 all out in 49 overs.

The Dutch were in the run chase till opener Vikramjit Singh (52 off 67) and de Leede (67 off 68) were in the middle but the end of their 70-run stand for the third wicket led to their downfall. They were eventually bowled out for 205 in 41 overs.

Pakistan's bowling, which was found wanting in the warm-up games, delivered in the middle-overs.

Haris Rauf (3/43) hurried the middle-order duo of Teja Nidamanuru and Scott Edwards to strike twice in the 27th over.

Shaheen Afridi trapped Saqib Zulfikar in front with a fast and full ball to make it 158 for six and when left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz dismissed De Leede with a beauty, it was game over for the associate team in the competition.

Under fire vice-captain Shadab Khan also raised his game with the ball.

With minimal foot movement, Vikramjit's stroke play against Shaheen in the powerplay was effective as he collected three boundaries off the star pacer.

Bas de Leede hit a quick 67 off 68 balls to keep the Netherlands in the hunt, giving Pakistan a few nervy moments.

Earlier, all-rounder Bas de Leede took four wickets with his medium-pace as a resolute Netherlands limited Pakistan to 286 all out.

Pakistan suffered two mini collapses in their innings, one at the top of the order and the other one after a 120-run stand off 114 balls between Mohammad Rizwan (68 off 75) and Saud Shakeel (68 off 52) for the fourth wicket.

While de Leede got the important breakthroughs in the middle-overs, off-spinners Aryan Dutt (1/48) and Colin Ackermann (2/39) got a lot out of the Hyderabad surface.

Playing their first World Cup game in 12 years, Netherlands used as many as eight bowling options after opting to field.

Pakistan were in a nervy state after losing Fakhar Zaman (12), skipper Babar Azam (5) and Imam Ul Haq (15) by the 10th over.

Rizwan and Saud gave the innings much needed stability. Shakeel, playing only his seventh ODI, was particularly impressive against the spinners. His effort included nine fours and six via a slog sweep off Roelof Van der Merwe.

Bas broke the stand by removing Rizwan with a ball that cut back in to sneak through the batters' defense.

From 188 for six, Mohammad Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32) forged a 64-run partnership to take the team past 250.

Pakistan were on course to reach 300 but Bas got rid of Shadab and Hasan Ali off successive balls to put the brakes on the scoring rate. In the end, Pakistan were guilty of not using the full quota of 50 overs. Agencies

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