Pakistan’s T20 World Cup campaign is belatedly up and running after they eased to victory against the Netherlands in Perth.
The six-wicket win was Pakistan first in the competition – and their first ever in a T20 international in Australia.
Having come into the game on the back of two dramatic last-ball defeats in their opening games against India and Zimbabwe, they overpowered the qualifiers from the start.
The Dutch were 19 for one at the end of their Powerplay, while Bas de Leede had also been removed from the match after being hit in the face by a 142kph short ball from Haris Rauf.
The Netherlands made it to just 91 for nine from their 20 overs, which Pakistan chased with 37 balls to spare.
“Wins always give you confidence,” Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, said.
“We are a good team and we are hoping for big things in the next matches. We will try to do our best in the next matches.”
Shadab Khan was named player of the match after taking three wickets, but the leg-spinner credited his side’s pace attack for doing the hard work.
Shaheen Afridi took one for 19 from his four overs, Naseem Shah one for 11, Mohammed Waseem two for 15 from three, and Rauf one for 10 from three.
“The bowlers put pressure on in the Powerplay and so they had to try and hit me, which meant I would get the opportunity to take wickets as well,” Shadab said.
Scott Edwards, the Netherlands captain, said his side were not good enough, having won the toss and opted to bat first.
“In general it was pretty poor,” Edwards said.
“We couldn’t get partnerships together and couldn’t string boundaries together. Ninety on a decent wicket is always going to be tough to defend.”
