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Babar Azam-led Pakistan will start their World Cup 2023 campaign against minnows Netherlands after back-to-back ordinary displays in warm-up encounters. While there were a few close encounters the last time Pakistan played the Netherlands in an ODI series, they are expected to kick off their campaign with a big win which may boost their net run rate early on in the tournament.
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The two teams have not had many encounters in ODI World Cup history as the Dutch team has not been a regular in the quadrennial event.
Younis bowls Dutch away
The first time Pakistan faced the Netherlands in the World Cup was in the 1996 edition. Playing at Lahore, fast bowler Waqar Younis troubled the Dutch batters with a four-fer.
Netherlands skipper Roland Lefebvre won the toss and opted to bat first. Aaqib Javed and Younis struck early to push Younis on the back foot. Flavian Aponso was the top-scorer with 58 runs from 105 balls including three fours and a six. The Netherlands managed to play out all 50 overs and posted a non-threatening total of 145/7 on the board.
In the run chase, Aamer Sohail got out early for a single-digit score to Lefebvre. Ijaz Ahmed was the consolation wicket for the Dutch bowlers as Saeed Anwar's unbeaten 92-ball 83 guided Pakistan to an eight-wicket win with 116 balls to spare.
Akram-Akhtar cause damage
In the 2003 World Cup, Netherlands bowlers had already troubled India and bowled them out for 204 in their opening encounter. They posed a minor threat against Pakistan as well. There was no big score from one specific Pakistan batter after Lefebvre won the toss and opted to bowl. Taufeeq Umar and Abdul Razzaq missed their half-centuries whereas Mohammad Yousuf's 58-run knock helped Pakistan post 253/9.
In the run chase, the Netherlands lost four wickets for just 43 runs as Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar hunted together with the new ball. The Netherlands could not keep up with the run rate. Daan van Bunge was the top-scorer with 31 runs from 60 balls. The Netherlands were bowled out for 156 from 39.3 overs as Pakistan won the match by 97 runs.
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