Pakistan were once again scrappy with the bat but managed to eke out a six-wicket victory over the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup, at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday to keep their slim semifinal hopes alive. (More Cricket News | Match Scorecard)
The Dutchmen found Pakistan's world class pace attack too hot to handle on aౠ bowlers' friendly Optus Stadium track, managing only 91 for 9 ꦅin their 20 overs.
One 🐭of the batters, Bas de Leede (6) retired hurt afte🐓r being hit below the eye by a snorter from Haris Rauf.
The target of 92 was never going to be an🌱 issue for Pakistan but even then it took them 13.5 overs to complete the chase with ICC's No. 1 ranked T20 batter Mohammed Rizwan managing 𒆙49 off 39 balls at an unimpressive strike-rate of 125.64.
With Bangladesh also getting the better of Zimbabwe in a thril⛎ler, Pakistan's chances of remaining alive in the tournament incre෴ased.
The full credit for thi✨s win will go to the bowlers, who hardly put a foot wrong on the day as Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/19 in 4 overs) and Naseem Shah (1/11 in 4 overs) choked the run flow in the Powerplay and the Dutch could never break the shacౠkles.
Mohammed Wasim (2/15 in𝓡 3 overs) was very brisk during the back end while Shadab Khan reaped the fruits of this relentless pressure by the speed merchants with best figures of 3/10.
For the Dutch, the kind of extreme pace that 🦩they faced on the day isn't something that they are accustomed to at the Associate level.
It was inevitable that they couldn't reall🥂y manage to get on top of the bowling as Powerplay overs yielded only 18 runs. It was ball hitting the bat rather than other way round.
De Leede got a nasty one from Rauf and was on all fours before he had to be rus🏅hed off the field. 🍎One saw a big swelling under his right eye as he walked off the field.
The short ball also played into the psyche ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚof the batters as Colin Ackermann's run-a-ball 27 was their top score. The only other batter to reach double figures waꦬs skipper Scott Edwards (15 off 20 balls).
Such was t♔he domination of the Pakistani pace attack that the Netherlands managed a cumulative total of only five boundaries in 20 overs.
While batting, Babar Azam's (4) run-out was unfortunate as he couldn't beat a direct throw from from former Proteas spinner Roelof van der Merwe (playing for his country of birth) while Fakhar Zaman (20 off 1꧂6 balls) sm🐼ashed three fours before Edwards took a diving catch off seamer Brandon Glover's delivery.
But Rizwan completed the chase with minimum fuss.
