Rotterdam 22 August : The Netherlands produced an impressive performance to come close to defeating Pakistan in the final and third ODI, but the visitors fought back to prevail by nine runs, and win the series 3-0.The match will be played at the stadium on Sunday.Despite the loss of 0-3 in the series, the Netherlands showed their strength and played some impressive cricket throughout the game.
After winning the toss, and choosing to bat first Pakistan didn’t get off to a great start, as the Netherlands bowlers were awestruck with the ball they had just received.
Vivian Kingma prized out debutant Abdullah Shafique in the second over of the innings.
Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam rebuilt the team for Pakistan.
However the Netherlands were able to make an opening in the form of Logan van Beek cleaned up Zaman (26) in the 18th over.Agha Salman provided Babar great company when the captain scored his ninth fifty plus score in the last 10 innings.
Pakistan dropped three wickets in rapid sequence in the middle of the overs, as the Netherlands have fought back to make a strong comeback.Salman, Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Haris were dismissed in the time of 31 runs.
Babar continued to push towards 100 but he could not get there because a stunning catch by Aryan Dutt ended his innings nine short of the ton.Pakistan were eventually dismissed with 206 in 49.4 overs.
In response to the opposition, the Netherlands also had a poor start.
Naseem Shah made a powerful impression during the tour when he returned Max O’Dowd and Musa Ahmed in the first 10 overs , giving Pakistan an enthralling start.
The speedster of 19 was in good form and ended his first innings with figures of 5-14-2.
He returned at a crucial time in the match to pick the captain Scott Edwards and added another wicket one of Teja Nidamanuru.He then went on to end a dangerous half-century stand.
Naseem ended with his career-best score of 5 for 33, taking Pakistan back into the match every time he was onto the field with the ball.Naseem was ably assisted by Mohammad Wasim, who picked the biggest wickets of Vikramjit Singh and Tom Cooper to finish with the score of four wickets.
But, the hosts did not give up easily.With opener Vikramjit and a resolute Cooper Cooper, the Netherlands forced Pakistan in the race to win.Vikramjit hit his second half century in the series, while Cooper reached three fifty-five in three innings.However, neither innings was enough to provide the Netherlands the needed final push to victory.
As Vikramjit’s innings drew to an end at 50 after he took Wasim on the wicketkeeper.Cooper continued to keep the Netherlands in the chase until the final over in the chase but then he slipped an slog by the bowler in the 46th over and be dismissed for 62.
The Netherlands have a tail that led them to the goal but they were beaten out for 191-10 in 49.2 overs, and failed to make it over the last barrier.
Brief scores: Pakistan 206 in 49.4 overs (Babar Azam 91, Mohammad Nawaz 27; Bas de Leede 3-50, Vivian Kingma 2-15) beat Netherlands 197 in 49.2 overs (Tom Cooper 62, Vikramjit Singh 50; Naseem Shah 5-33, Mohammad Wasim Jr.4-36) by 9 runs.
avn/bsk
