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Pakistan 95 for 4 (Rizwan 49, Glover 2-22) beat Netherlands 91 for 9 (Shadab 3-22, Wasim 2-15) by six wickets
Pakistan's fast bowlers proved too hot for Netherlands on a bouncy surface in Perth, giving them a comfortable six-wicket win and their first points of the T20 World Cup. Overwhelmed by the Pakistan bowling attack, Netherlands could post only 91 for 9 after choosing to bat and eventually lost their third game in a row in the Super 12s.
Netherlands' batters were tested by short balls, with
Bas de Leede copping a bouncer on the grille which forced him to retire hurt. Shaheen Shah Afridi took 1 for 19, Haris Rauf cranked his pace up to finish with 1 for 10, Naseem Shah conceded only 11 runs in four overs while Mohammad Wasim impressed with his back-to-back wicket-taking yorkers.
Shadab Khan complemented the seamers, his wristspin accounting for three wickets.
The sub-100 chase was expectedly comfortable for Pakistan, with two key cogs to their batting line-up getting among the runs. After Babar Azam fell cheaply,
Mohammad Rizwan (49) and No. 3 Fakhar Zaman (20) - the latter returning to the XI after a knee injury kept him away for seven weeks - put together a 37-run stand. Pakistan closed out the chase with 37 balls to spare, which was also their very first T20I win on Australian soil.
The win for Pakistan, their first after two last-ball losses to start the World Cup, keeps them in contention for semi-final spot, but fate is no longer in their hands. Not only do they need to win their last two games - against Bangladesh and South Africa - but also need results from other Group 2 games going their way.
A new-ball test of fire
The Pakistan quicks stepped up with the new ball for the third game in a row, with Afridi earning his first new-ball wicket in the competition too. He went short to opener Stephan Myburgh, drawing a top-edged pull from the left-hand batter. The extra bounce induced that error, and the other pace bowlers caught on to that quickly.
The seamers got the ball to rise awkwardly while operating at more than 140kph, and the No. 3 de Leede faced the brunt of it when a Rauf short ball left him with a bleeding cut under his right eye. De Leede was later replaced by concussion substitute
Logan van Beek.
