Pakistan proved to be too strong for Netherlands in Match 2 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which was played in Hyderabad on Friday (October 6). Netherlands fought bravely at times but in the end Babar Azam & co. comfortably won the match to begin well in their World Cup campaign.
Netherlands invited Pakistan to bat first, and restricted them to 286 all out in 49 overs with Bas de Leede picking up a four-wicket haul. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel scored 68 each, while spin all-rounders Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz contributed with crucial 30's.
In the chase, Vikramjit Singh scored 52 and de Leede, who had a great match, made 67 runs. Other than that there was not much resistance from the Dutch batters other than tailender Logan van Beek who scored 28*, as Netherlands folded for 205 in 41 overs to lose by 81 runs.
Haris Rauf bowled with a lot of pace, often touching speeds of close to 150 kmph and was rewarded with three wickets for his efforts, while Hassan Ali grabbed two on his comeback.
Rauf, was seen having few heated words with Paul van Meekeren after bowling a short ball to him in the 39th over, to which the tailender responded in style as he smashed him for a boundary off the last ball of the over.
Eventually Rauf had the last laugh, as he cleaned up the Netherlands tailender to end the game and then let out a huge roar afterwards in his direction.
