Hyderabad, 7 October 2023 (WAI): Pakistan entered the adventurous journey of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with a victorious start against the Netherlands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad.
There is no doubt that initially, the Dutch team managed to give a hard time; however the Babar Azam eleven secured victory.
Bowling plays as much of an essential role as the batting side does. Pakistani fast bowler Haris Rauf played well and took three wickets, sending Scott Edwards 11 back to the pavilion in only 41 overs.
The Dutch all-rounder Bas De Leede performed exemplary for the team; he took 4 wickets, and while batting, he became the top scorer with 67 runs, while the Dutch opener, Vikramjit Singh, came up with 52 runs and made a partnership of 70 with De Leede.
This was an unexpected start, which exposed the Pakistani team to risk. But no one knew that the Netherlands, with such an impressive start, would lose in their first game.
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Pakistani fast bowlers Rauf, Afridi, and Hassan Ali contributed superbly. They took six wickets collectively, of which Rauf took three. This led the Shaheens to make a winning entry into the ICC CWC 2023.
Also, the spinners Shadab, Iftikhar, and Nawaz took one wicket each. In their debut World Cup, Saud Shakeel and Rizwan made impressively stable innings, with a partnership of 120 runs for the wicket.
Pakistan got stronger when Nawaz, with 39, and Shadab, with 32, scored a significant partnership of 64 runs for the seventh wicket. Nevertheless, this strength didn’t last long, as Leede dismissed Shadab and Hassan Ali with delivering impressively.
In the preliminary session of the match, Pakistan made a total of 286 scores and a significant half-century of Shakeel and Rizwan during their innings. Also, this was the first World Cup match for both. This excellent start made Shakeel the player of the match at the end of this roller coaster inning.
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