Pakistan convincingly beat Netherlands by six wickets but still far behind in the race of semi-finals
Pakistan pacers bowled very brilliantly and set Pakistan a target of 92, the chase started with Babar and Rizwan hoping to get back in form with a small target and the win for Pakistan, the first after two last-ball losses to start the World Cup, save them in contention for a semi-final spot.
The Netherlands had won the toss and elected to bat first. The Pakistan quicks move forward with the new ball for the third game in a row, with Afridi acquiring his first new-ball wicket in the mega event too.
He went short to opener Stephan Myburgh, drawing a top-edged pull from the left-hand batter. The extra bounce induced that error, and the other pace bowlers caught on to that quickly.
The seamers got the ball to rise gracelessly while working at more than 140kph, and the No. 3 de Leede confronted the brunt of it when a Rauf short ball left him with a draining cut under his right eye. De Leede was subsequently replaced by blackout substitute Logan van Beek.
Pakistan conceded only two boundaries in the powerplay, allowing the Netherlands to score only 19 runs in the first six overs. Shadab Khan was introduced by Babar as soon as the field restrictions were lifted.
Shadab had finished his spell against Zimbabwe with two wickets off his last two balls and against the Netherlands; he struck off his first ball, getting No. 4 Tom Cooper to pull a loose half-tracker to deep midwicket.
The skipper Scott Edwards then hoped to build a partnership with Colin Ackermann, however, the boundaries were hard to find, as they depended more on the singles and twos.
However, the 35-run fourth-wicket partnership off 37 balls was ended by Shadab when Ackermann missed the reverse lap and was hit in front of the off stump. He finished with 3 for 22.
With the Netherlands at 74 for 6 after 17 overs, chances of a dramatic finish seemed thin. The seamers yielded just 17 in the last 18 balls, with Wasim causing the majority of the harm with his consecutive yorkers that broke the stumps of Tim Pringle and Fred Klaassen.
Naseem bowled a tight 20th over to finish with an economy of 2.75 in four overs and set Pakistan a target of 92.
After a short delay due to impending rain, the chase started with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan hoping to get back in form with a small target ahead of them. Rizwan hustled off the blocks but Babar was run out via a van der Merwe direct hit for 4.
Fakhar entered at No. 3, rather than Shan Masood, and played away from his body to track down boundaries through the off side. At the point when the Dutch seamers focused on his pads, he utilized his wrists to clear the leg-side infield.
Although Fakhar had a physical issue alarm after an awkward jump, he recovered to proceed. However, he was dismissed for 20 when he got an external edge to a ball calculating across him, with the wicketkeeper taking a screamer jumping to one side.
Masood, who came in at No.4, then joined Rizwan, who hit five fours during his 39-ball 49. However, the two hitters fell late in the chase, Rizwan one short of his 23rd T20I fifty and Masood one short of the target.
The win for Pakistan, the first after two last-ball losses to start the World Cup, save them in contention for a semi-final spot, but fate is no longer in their hands.
