Tag: Pakistan Netherlands ODIs

Practice underway as Pakistan set to take on Netherlands in third ODI

ROTTERDAM: The national ODI squad held a practice session ahead of their final encounter with the Netherlands in the ongoing three-match series.

The national players carried out robust practice sessions on Saturday ahead of the third ODI against the Netherlands, scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Taking to Twitter, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also shared pictures of the ODI squad partaking in an enduring practice session. The players engaged in vigorous fielding drills alongside net sessions for bowling and batting practice.

 

Pakistan lead the three-match series 2-0 and will be looking to clean sweep the victory to earn vital points in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Super League.

Following their victory in the second ODI, the Green Shirts jumped two places to capture the third position in the standings, while a victory in the third match can bolster the touring side to claim the second position.

READ: Rizwan Mehsood, 12, sets world record for most front to back claps 

‘Rizwan guided me a lot during our partnership’ says Salman Ali Agha

ROTTERDAM: Pakistan’s young middle-order batter Salman Ali Agha revealed that wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan guided him during the match-winning partnership against the Netherlands in the second ODI.

Salman, who scored a magnificent half-century in his second ODI, credited wicket-keeper batter Rizwan for offering the guidance to build up his astonishing knock.

“Definitely he’s our senior player and one of the best players of Pakistan across all the formats. So, he was guiding me a lot like how to play, how to tackle some specific deliveries. So, his guidance helped me a lot,” Salman stated.

The right-handed batter while responding to a question regarding his plan regarding whether he will be targeting to score a century or a half-century, asserted that the team’s requirement would be the topmost priority for him.

“Thrive would be to play as I played in this match, according to the team’s demand. There is no doubt that a player has his individual milestone in his mind but the team is the top most priority,” Salman shared.

Salman then went on to comment on the conditions of the Netherlands and shared that the wicket is quite slow and offers a spongy bounce which make it difficult for a batter to hit the ball.

“The wicket is here is on a slower side and offers a spongy bounce. So, if a bowler bowls a length delivery, so it sponge bounces making it difficult to hit the ball. But, I tried to take on the challenge with a positive mindset and play my shots and thanks to Almighty it paid off,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that Salman scored his first fifty in ODI cricket in his second match, put on a match-winning 92-run partnership with Rizwan and propelled Pakistan to seal a resounding seven-wicket victory over the Netherlands and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

READ: Pakistan crush Netherlands in second ODI to claim series victory 

‘We could’ve played better’ Fakhar on Pakistan’s narrow victory in first ODI

ROTTERDAM: Pakistan’s star with the bat of the first ODI against the Netherlands, Fakhar Zaman admitted that the touring side could have played better against the hosts.

Fakhar, who led the charge for a competitive total for Pakistan with a magnificent century, spoke to this reporter and here and acknowledged that the Green Shirts could have played better while emphasizing different conditions resulting in the slow start for the touring side.

“No doubt, we could have played better than this. The ball was seeming at the start a bit too much and the Dutch bowlers too did exceptionally well. So, credit goes to them also,” Fakhar said.

“We were facing difficulty in the start as the ball was seeming quite a lot and there were spinners as well. So the plan with Babar was that we should not give away wickets no matter how few the runs were,” he revealed.

The left-handed opener then went on to comment on the team’s performance and the narrow victory against the Netherlands and emphasized that no team is weak in international cricket while asserting that players did not feel that the match was slipping away from their grip at any stage.

“At no point did we feel that the match was slipping away. This is cricket and you can’t relax until the last ball, Netherlands played well but the match was in our hands,” Fakhar asserted.

“No team is weak, three of their players were dismissed early but the partnership remained brilliant for them,” he concluded.

It is apropos to mention here that the full-strength Pakistan side managed to hold on the Netherlands by a bare margin of 16 runs in the first ODI of the three-match series.

Fakhar was the pick of the batters as he smashed a magnificent 109 off as many balls, laced with 12 boundaries and a six.

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