First ODI: Pakistan won against Holland but the margin of victory was only 16 runs, Fakhr Zaman's century

 First ODI: Pakistan won against Holland but the margin of victory was only 16 runs, Fakhr Zaman's century

Fakhar Zaman has played an important role in Pakistan's victory by scoring a century

Pakistan defeated Holland by 16 runs in the first one-day international in Rotterdam to take a one-nil lead in the three-match series.

The Pakistani team must have won this match, but the Dutch team, especially the captain Scott Edwards, has to be praised for fighting till the end despite getting a big target, although seven players of this team are busy playing cricket in England at the moment. The most successful bowler and the former captain have bid adieu to the game due to a back problem and it will also be remembered that it was Holland against whom England posted the highest score in ODI history, 498, just two months ago. Scored runs.

What happened in the Pakistani innings?

When Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first, England's 498 runs were in the minds of the fans and the question was whether Pakistani batsmen would be able to score runs in the same way. But the Pakistani team went ahead without any excitement and managed to reach 314 for 6 wickets, in which Fakhr Zaman's 109 and Babar Azam's 74 were the most important.

Since the 2019 World Cup, Pakistani batsmen have scored twelve centuries in One Day Internationals, seven of which are by Babar Azam. Apart from them, only Fakhr Zaman has managed to score three centuries and Imamul Haq has managed to score two centuries. There is no fourth batsman in sight.

Pakistan's innings were opened by Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhr Zaman but the host bowlers managed to keep them quiet. In this surprising silence, Pakistan also had to bear the loss of Imam-ul-Haq, who was declared not out by umpire Michael Gough, but Dutch captain Scott Edwards' review proved correct.

The 168 runs scored in the second wicket partnership between Babar Azam and Fakhr Zaman allowed the run rate to reach five runs per over. Van Beck managed to break this partnership when he had Babar Azam caught by Caper at mid-off for 74 runs.

Fate was kind to Fakhrzaman as Vivian King Ma dropped a catch at third man off the ball of Bas de Ledde at the score of 43. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Fakhr Zaman managed to complete his seventh ODI century with the help of ten fours and one six.

Fakhr Zaman's batting has been quiet since his two consecutive centuries in South Africa last year and he managed to score only one half-century in the last 9 innings.

Fakhrzaman could not extend his innings after completing the century and was run out after scoring 109 runs.

After the dismissal of captain Babar Azam, the middle-order batting looked to be in trouble once again. Mohammad Rizwan was LBW after scoring only 14 runs.

Rizwan has managed only 2 half-centuries in 16 ODI innings since his century against Australia in Dubai two years ago and it should not be forgotten that he has been batting at number four or five in all those innings.

Agha Salman's batting number?

In today's match, Pakistan gave one-day caps to middle-order batsman Agha Salman and fast bowler Naseem Shah, but Agha Salman, who has been included in the one-day team after the Test series against Sri Lanka, has now been included in the one-day team when batting. When they came, only twenty-five balls were left.

Khushdil Shah was sent in with the aim of scoring quick runs when Fakhr Zaman was dismissed and when Mohammad Rizwan's wicket fell, Shadab Khan came in to bat. Even Mohammad Nawaz was sent in above him.

Did the captain not have confidence in Agha Salman that he can play according to the situation at his number?

At the end of Pakistan's innings, Agha Salman was playing on 27 runs with the help of three boundaries while facing 16 balls. At the other end, Shadab Khan was not out for 48 runs with the help of four fours and two sixes.

Holland has only one Edwards

Chasing the target of 315 runs, the Dutch team knew that Shaheen Shah Afridi was not included in Pakistan's bowling attack, but the Pakistani bowlers did not let him be missed and the host team lost three wickets for 62 runs.

Naseem Shah, playing his first ODI, bowled Max O'Dowd lbw after bowling three wides in his first over. Fakhrzaman dropped the catch.

Fate was kind to Vikramjeet Singh for the second time when Imamul Haq dropped a catch to deprive Agha Salman of the wicket in his very first over in the ODI. At that time he was playing on 37 runs.

Haris Rauf bowled Wesley Barresi, who scored a century and six half-centuries in ODIs, for two runs. The third wicket to fall was that of Boss de Leyde who was lbw by Muhammad Wasim for sixteen runs.

Vikramjeet Singh and Tom Cooper added 97 runs for the fourth wicket partnership. Tom Cooper scored 65 runs and was caught by Babar Azam off the ball of Haris Rauf. It was Caper's ninth ODI half-century.

Vikramjeet Singh also scored 65 runs and got lbw off Mohammad Nawaz, Holland team needed 148 runs to win.

The 55-run partnership between captain Scott Edwards and Teja Nida Minoru was ended by Naseem Shah bowling Teja. Scott Edwards, who had scored half-centuries in all three ODIs against England, managed to play remarkable innings of 71 runs not out this time as well.