Hyderabad: All-rounder Bas de Leede took four wickets with his medium-pace as a resolute Netherlands limited Pakistan to 286 all out in their World Cup opener here on Friday.
Pakistan suffered two mini collapses in their innings, one at the top of the order and the other one after a 120-run stand off 114 balls between Mohammad Rizwan (68 off 75) and Saud Shakeel (68 off 52) for the fourth wicket.
While de Leede got the important breakthroughs in the middle-overs, off-spinners Aryan Dutt (1/48) and Colin Ackermann (2/39) got a lot out of the Hyderabad surface.
Playing their first World Cup game in 12 years, Netherlands used as many as eight bowling options after opting to field.
Dutt opened the bowling for Netherlands alongside Logan van Beek who got his outswing (inswing to the left-handers) going in the powerplay.
Pakistan were in a nervy state after losing Fakhar Zaman (12), skipper Babar Azam (5) and Imam Ul Haq (15) by the 10th over.
Van Beek had the out-of-form Fakhar caught and bowled before Ackermann got the prized wicket of Babar whose attempted pull landed straight into the hands of the mid-wicket fielder.
Paul van Meekran struck on his very first ball as his short ball got big on Iman who pulled it straight to fine-leg, leaving Pakistan at 38 for three.
Rizwan and Saud gave the innings much needed stability. Shakeel, playing only his seventh ODI, was particularly impressive against the spinners. His effort included nine fours and six via a slog sweep off Roelof Van der Merwe.
Bas broke the stand by removing Rizwan with a ball that cut back in to sneak through the batters’ defense.
From 188 for six, Mohammad Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32) forged a 64-run partnership to take the team past 250.
Pakistan were on course to reach 300 but Bas got rid of Shadab and Hasan Ali off successive balls to put the brakes on the scoring rate.
In the end, Pakistan were guilty of not using the full quota of 50 overs.
