Perth, Oct 30: 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 here on Sunday to keep their slim semifinal hopes alive.
The Dutchmen found Pakistan’s world class pace attack too hot to handle on a bowlers’ friendly Optus Stadium track, managing only 91 for 9 in their 20 overs.
One of the batters, Bas de Leede (6) retired hurt after 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 49 off 39 balls at an unimpressive strike-rate of 125.64.
With Bangladesh also getting the better of Zimbabwe in a thriller, Pakistan’s chances of remaining alive in the tournament increased.
The full credit for this 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 shackles.
Mohammed Wasim (2/15 in 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.
They couldn’t get on top of the bowling as Powerplay overs yielded only 18 runs.
De Leede got a nasty one from Rauf before was rushed off the field. (PTI)
