In the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, Pakistan got off to a brilliant start to their campaign by defeating the Netherlands by 81 runs thanks to a brilliant performance.
Pakistan were reduced to 3 wickets for 38 runs but a brilliant partnership of 120 off 114 balls between Muhammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel steadied the innings once again, followed by all-rounders Shadab Khan and Muhammad Nawaz. 64-run partnership for the seventh wicket took his team to 286 runs.Rizwan scored 68 off 75 balls which was his seventh half-century of the year while it was Saud, only the seventh ODI player, to hit the mark with a 52-ball 68. The next best score in the innings was Nawaz who scored 39 off 43 balls and Shadab Khan scored 32 off 34 balls.
Pakistan's defense faced early difficulties as half-centuries Vikramjit Singh and Boss de Leyde added 70 runs from 76 balls for the third wicket while Haris Rauf took two wickets from three balls. Hasan Ali, who returned to ODI cricket after a gap of 15 months, took 2 wickets while Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Nawaz and Shadab Khan took one wicket each.
Pakistan scored a net run rate of 1.620 in 41 overs. D-Lead's 67 off 68 balls threatened to take the match deeper, which could have reduced Pakistan's net run rate, but Nawaz dismissed the right-hander in the 34th over.
They will take on Sri Lanka in the tournament tomorrow in Hyderabad and will be looking to leave the city with two wins from two matches. Talking to PCB Digital before the match, Nawaz said that a positive start to a big tournament is very important and that is what we wanted.
He said that we have played two practice matches here and the opening match of the tournament has been played in Hyderabad. However, it all depends on playing good cricket on the day and executing your skills to the best of your abilities. We hope to maintain the momentum gained by defeating the Netherlands and end the Hyderabad leg with a win.
Pakistan were able to set up a defensive score after the early dismissals thanks to an excellent rear-guard partnership in the middle and lower middle order. Highlighting these partnerships and Saud's incredible half-century, Nawaz said, "It was a brilliant partnership between Rizwan and Saud Shakeel considering the circumstances. Saud scored 40 runs for three wickets (three wickets). 38 for loss) Played brilliant reply cricket after scoring runs and it put us in a good position.
"Shadab Khan and I were trying to take the innings deep and the plan was to maintain the partnership till the 45th and 46th overs and then finish aggressively," he said. Unfortunately, we couldn't deliver that finish but we managed to get a good score for the team.
After the 27th over by Harris, Pakistan had a firm grip on the match, but D-Lead continued to resist. After all, Nawaz had everything a left-wing conservative could have imagined.
Nawaz, who took one wicket for 31 runs in seven overs, said it was any left-armer's dream to bring the ball with flow and then turn it. Boss de Leyde is a good all-rounder and he looked good at the time. His wicket was very important.
Nawaz also believes that India's bowlers will need to be disciplined to reap the rewards in conditions that tend to favor the batsmen, but believes that the spinners will improve as the tournament progresses. will also have a role.
"Most of the pitches in India are more favorable, but as the tournament progresses the pitches will offer more twist. The boundary here is a bit smaller which makes it difficult for the bowlers here," he said. But we have tried to adjust according to the conditions. I got confidence from the bowling in the last match and I want to build on that so that I can give my best as per the team's requirements.
Since the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 1975, Pakistan have had an impressive record against Sri Lanka, defeating them on all seven occasions, but the islanders have overtaken them recently. Pakistan suffered a last-ball thriller in the last-ball Asia Cup ODI in Colombo last month and suffered back-to-back defeats in the T20 edition of the tournament last year, the last two of which There were finals.
However, Nawaz said that past results will not have any impact when the two sides meet tomorrow. They have won important matches against us in the last one year in white ball cricket but that is a thing of the past and it should not affect us. We will enter the field on Tuesday with a 'new game, new day' and a positive mindset.
