The Netherlands’ tight bowling held Pakistan to just 206 runs in the third one-day international (ODI), with captain Babar Azam leading the way with 91.
On a cold, slightly cloudy day, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat, expecting another huge total from the dry, bat-friendly surface.
But Dutch speed bowler Vivian Kingma struck first, sending opener Abdullah Shafique back to the clubhouse at the VOC cricket ground for two runs with the first ball of his bowling spell that sent the bails flying in the second over.
Pakistan advanced to 150-5 by the 40th over as wickets continued to fall frequently.Up-and-coming Azam, the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world, was dismissed by Dutch rookie Aryan Dutt when he was on 91 and appeared to be headed for his 18th ODI century.
As Dutt dove and took a spectacular one-handed catch for his tenth one-day international wicket, Azam pushed the ball into the air.
Dutt eventually finished with statistics of 34-1, trailing Bas de Leede, who continues to have an influence on the Dutch team both with the bat and the ball and has a current average of 50-3.When Logan van Beek, a fellow seamer, removed dangerman Fakhar Zaman’s off-stump in the 17th over, the Pakistani innings was effectively dismantled.
