Pakistan have moved to 4th with 100 points on the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League leaderboard with a 16-run victory over the Netherlands in the first ODI on Tuesday. A couple more wins this week in Rotterdam will lift Pakistan to 120 points and will assure them of a place in next year’s event proper, irrespective of how their remaining two series against New Zealand and Afghanistan pan out.
The Men in Green’s win in the first ODI helped them leapfrog New Zealand at the fourth spot in the table. England are at the top of the table with 125 points and are closely followed by Bangladesh who have accumulated 120 points so far.
Fakhar Zaman scored his seventh ODI century in his 60th appearance to lift Pakistan to an imposing 314 for six after a slow and cautious start that saw them reach 100 for one in 23 overs.
Fakhar showed flashes of his brilliance, talent, and skills with the willow during a run-a-ball 109 that included 12 fours but only one six. He added 168 runs for the second wicket in an entertaining and exciting second wicket partnership with captain Babar Azam, who was elegant and stylish, as ever, while scoring an 85-ball 74 with six fours and a six.
Apart from Fakhar and Babar, Shadab Khan joined run-feast when he scored a rapid 28-ball 48 not out with four fours and two sixes. Debutant Salman Ali Agha returned not out on 27 as he added 48 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket in 25 balls with Shadab. Khushdil Shah chipped in with an 18-ball 21.
Fast bowlers Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Wasim Junior then shared seven wickets between them to restrict the hosts to 298-8, despite impressive half-centuries from Vikramjit Singh, Tom Cooper, and Scott Edwards.
The second match of the series will be played on Thursday, while the final game of the tour will be on Sunday.
