T20 World Cup:
Pakistan beat Netherlands to avoid elimination
|
ICC Men's T20 World Cup Group 2, Perth |
|
Netherlands 91-9 (20 overs): Ackermann 27 (27); Shadab 3-22, M Wasim 2-15 |
|
Pakistan 95-4 (13.5 overs): Rizwan 49 (39) |
|
Pakistan won by six wickets |
|
Scorecard; Tables |
Pakistan kept alive
their slim hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Men's T20 World Cup
with a comfortable six-wicket win over the Netherlands.
Chasing 92 for victory, they won with 37 balls
to spare, opener Mohammad Rizwan hitting 49 off 39 balls.
Netherlands posted a turgid 91-9 in Perth,
with Colin Ackermann scoring 27 and spinner Shadab Khan taking 3-22.
Pakistan need to beat South Africa on Thursday
and Bangladesh next Sunday and hope results go their way to progress.
The Netherlands are eliminated, with a third
successive defeat leaving them bottom of Group 2, a place lower than Pakistan.
Earlier, Bangladesh
moved into the top two with a dramatic victory over Zimbabwe, who
are also still able to qualify.
From start to finish the Netherlands' batting
was poor.
It was a tepid display, with 63 dot balls in
the innings, and no batter looked comfortable.
Bas de Leede was forced to retire on six after
being hit in the helmet grille by Haris Rauf, resulting in a huge cut on his
cheekbone, and him being replaced by concussion substitute Logan van Beek.
They struggled to cope with the pace of the
Pakistan seamers, Mohammad Wasim bowling Tim Pringle and Fred Klaassen in
successive balls with excellent yorkers.
He was denied a hat-trick by the finest of
margins as the ball went between leg stump and Paul van Meekeren's right leg.
Shadab was impressive, bowling a stump-to-stump
line to pick up two lbw dismissals. The leg-spinner now has six wickets in the
tournament and 20 in T20 internationals in 2022.
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said:
"In general our batting was pretty poor. We were on 15 or so after the powerplay
and just never recovered.
"It was 90 on a decent wicket so it is
always going to be difficult to defend."
There was another failure for Pakistan captain
Babar Azam, who was run out by Roeloef van der Merwe for four, meaning he has
scored just eight runs in three games.
Fakhar Zaman, who came into the team and made
20, and Rizwan, who played nicely including two gorgeous straight drives, were
caught behind off Brandon Glover and Van Meekeren.
Shan Masood was caught at deep third with the
scores level as Pakistan started to labour after a fast start. But ultimately
they got the victory needed to keep their tournament going when Shadab drove to
the cover boundary.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said: "I am
very happy with the performance with bat and ball.
"We could have chased down the score
without losing three or four wickets. But a win always gives you confidence and
we take good things into our next matches."
