PAK vs NED Match Highlights: Bas De Leede's All-Round Effort In Vain As Pakistan Beat Netherlands In Their World Cup Opener

PAK vs NED Match Highlights: Despite Bas De Leede's all-round effort, Netherlands fell short of Pakistan's total.

Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan run between the wickets during their 120-run stand for the fourth wicket against Netherlands in Hyderabad.

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Pakistan beat Netherlands in their ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 opener at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad by 81 runs on Friday (October 6). The Dutch, the only associate nation to be part of the World Cup, put on a spirited show riding on all-round performance by Bas de Leede who first scalped four wickets for 62 runs with the ball before keeping the Men in Orange for a good part in their run chase, top scoring with 67 off 68.

Pakistan did lose early wickets after being put on to bat first by Scott Edwards who won the toss and chose to field. However, the partnership between Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan was the real match-saver for them in the middle in Pakistan's first game in India in seven years. Both Shakeel and Rizwan made 68 each, scoring them off 52 and 75 deliveries respectively.

With the ball in hand, it was a proper team effort with each of the six bowlers used by Babar Azam being amongst the wickets. Haris Rauf was the wrecker-in-chief, ultimately finishing with figures of 3 for 43. Hasan Ali scalped 2 for 33 while each of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan picked up a wicket each. Ultimately, it was Shakeel who was adjudged the Player Of the Match for the manner in which his innings eased off all the pressure after the Men in Green were 38/3 in 9.3 overs.

"Tried to be positive and score runs for the team. Nerves were there, we lost 3 wickets but I was fortunate enough to get early boundaries. We knew the pressure would go back to them if we got a start. I think the last 2-3 months I’ve been playing hard, I knew I’d bat number 5 for Pakistan and have been developing my shots according to that - sweeps and reverse sweeps. Thanks to the crowd as well, and I want to thank my coach as well for helping me out," Shakeel said after the match.

Pakistan could have ultimately finished the match a bit earlier but Logan van Beek towards the end (28 off 28) delayed Pakistan's win. Vikramjit Singh's 52 off 67 was also a commendable effort at the top of the order but ultimately all to no avail as they walk away with 0 points for all their efforts but with a lot of positivies moving forward in the competition.