After winning their first match of the World Cup 2023, Pakistan player Saud Shakeel opens on their victory against Netherlands.
Saud Shakeel on winning first World Cup match
Pakistan is scheduled to play in the second match of the World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands on October 6 at Rajiv International Stadium where Pakistan won the match with 81 runs.
Saud Shakeel has made 7 ODI appearances and scored a total of 76 runs with an average of 19.00. He scored 68 runs on 52 deliveries and joins the list of the highest scores for Pakistan in World Cup debut.
Winning the toss, Netherlands chose to bat. Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq opened the innings while Aryan Dutt opened the bowling attack. The openers failed to create an impression as Fakhar Zaman was sent out with 12 runs by Van Beek while Babar Azam was dismissed for 5 runs by Ackermann.
With Imam dismissed by Van Meekeren for 15 runs, Pakistan was down to three wickets for 38 runs. On this occasion, Mohammad Rizwan came to the rescue scoring 68 runs, and was dismissed by Bas de Leede. Saud Shakeel was impressive as he scored 68 runs on 52 deliveries and was dismissed by Aryan Dutt.
With Iftikhar Ahmed’s dismissal with 9 runs by Leede, Pakistan lost 6 wickets scoring 188 runs on the last ball of the 32nd over. Mohammad Nawaz scored 39 runs while Leede dismissed Shadab Khan for 32 runs. Other batters were dismissed with low figures and by the end of 49 overs, Pakistan lost all 10 wickets scoring 286 runs.
Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel were impressive as they scored 68 runs each in their World Cup debut. The 31-year-old Rizwan has made an appearance in 65 ODI matches and scored a total of 1693 runs with an average of 36.80. He scored 115 runs against Australia in 2018 which remains his career best.
Saud Shakeel was awarded as the player of the match. While speaking after the match he said, ”Tried to be positive and score runs for the team. Nerves were there, we lost 3 wickets but I was fortunate enough to get early boundaries.
We knew the pressure would go back to them if we got a start. I think for the last 2-3 months I’ve been playing hard, I knew I’d bat number 5 for Pakistan and have been developing my shots according to that – sweeps and reverse sweeps. Thanks to the crowd as well, and I want to thank my coach as well for helping me out.”
Pakistan will be playing their second match of the World Cup against Sri Lanka on October 10 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
