Putting in a great bowling performance, Pakistan restricted Netherlands to (205) in their chase of 287-run target, to register an 81-run win in their opening match of the World Cup on Friday at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Harish Rauf and Hasan Ali returned with (3) and (2) wickets respectively whereas Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed returned with one-wicket each to bundle out Netherlands in (41) overs.
Earlier, put into bat, Pakistan scored (286) runs in (49) overs with the help of Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel's 68-run knock respectively. Pakistan had failed to get the help of their top order batters. Chasing the target, Netherlands got some momentum with Vikramjit Singh smashing fifty but middle-order collapse dwindled their chase. However, de Leede kept the team in the game with his 67-run knock but after his wicket, Netherlands lost the momentum to register their defeat.