T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 2, NED v PAK: Shadab's 3-22 hands Pak their first T20I win in Australia

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 2, Netherlands vs Pakistan: Shadab Khan's 3-22, Brandon Glover's 2-22 and Pakistan pacers' combined 5-55 are top performances. Pakistan beat Netherlands by 6 wickets at Perth in Super 12s game; register first win.

Shadab Khan took 3-22 and got POTM (Source: ©Getty Images)

Brief Scores: Netherlands 91-9 (Ackermann 27, Edwards 15, Shadab 3-22) lost to Pakistan 95-4 (Rizwan 49, Fakhar 20, Glover 2-22)

Player of the Match – Shadab Khan (3-22)

Pakistan finally get the balance of their squad right with Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Wasim in the playing XI. Their pace battery bowled superbly and utilised the bounce available at the Perth Stadium in the way it should have ideally been done. For Pakistan, the concern still remains their scratchy batting line up as they lost four wickets chasing a mediocre 91 runs.

For Netherlands, its done and dusted as far as the T20 World Cup 2022 is concerned with the only positive being the batting of Max O’Dowd in round one. In this game, they succumbed to Pakistan’s pace & bounce and the spin of Shadab Khan.

Match 29 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 was a virtual knock out for both the participants, Pakistan and Netherlands, in Perth. One thing was certain before the start of the game that at least one team will open their account in the Super 12 stage.

While Pakistan were yet to win a single T20I match in Australia in their 17 years of playing T20 cricket, Netherlands have won one already. Head-to-head, Pakistan and Netherlands have just played one T20I before in the 2009 World Cup, where Pakistan had won.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and elected to bat first in Perth. For Netherlands, Stephan Myburgh, Brandon Glover, Roelof van der Merwe were back in the playing XI. Pakistan brought back Fakhar Zaman in place of Haider Ali.

Mohammed Wasim took 2-15 against Netherlands (Photo: ©PCB/Twitter)

Pakistan skittle out Netherlands for 91

Pakistan were quick to get inroads into the Netherlands batting lineup as Shaheen Shah Afridi was finally back amongst the wickets after two innings. This was the first time ever in Shaheen’s T20I career that he had gone wicketless in two consecutive innings where he had bowled his full quota of four overs.

Netherlands were striking at almost three runs per over and the pressure was building on them constantly. Shadab Khan then did further damage as he picked three wickets in his spell of four overs giving just 23. Netherlands were struggling at the half-way mark with just 34 runs on the board with three wickets down. Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah both were breathing fire as they utilised the wicket in Perth by consistently hitting the hard back of the length deliveries and in the process, troubling the Netherlands batters a great deal. Mohammad Wasim was then experimental in wrapping up the lower order as he was pacy and fiery with his accurate yorkers and ended up with 2-15 to restrict Netherlands to 91/9 in their allotted 20 overs.

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Pakistan lose 4 wickets chasing a paltry score

The duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan failed again, as Babar was run out for a personal score of 4; this was the first time ever in Babar’s T20I career that he was dismissed for a single digit score in three consecutive matches.

Rizwan then played a typical Rizwan-like innings with zero risks and just rotating the strikes with the odd boundaries in the middle. Netherlands bowlers hit the deck hard but were unlucky as the edges kept flying away from the fielders and the keeper. Though Netherlands were experimental in picking four wickets thanks to some tight bowling from Paul van Meekeren and Brandon Glover, a total of 91 was never going to be enough, even with Pakistan’s dodgy batting lineup.

Pakistan registered their first ever T20I victory on Australian soil and opened their account with 2 vital points in the tournament and stay alive. While Netherlands were knocked out of the title race.

Let’s scan the top three performances from the Group 2 game between Netherlands and Pakistan in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

Shadab Khan bagged 3-22 against Netherlands (Photo: ©PCB/Twitter)

Shadab Khan utilises the spin and bounce in Perth with returns of 3-22

Wrist spinners are expected to be more successful down under as compared to finger spinners and this belief was given another tick mark on Sunday, as Shadab Khan disturbed the Netherlands batters mindset with spin and bounce extracted from the Perth wicket. Shadab who was brought into the attack in the 7th over, picked a wicket off his very first delivery with a short leg-spinner, which was asking to be hit but Tom Cooper could just hit it as far as the fielder stationed at deep mid-wicket.

The leg spinner again picked up a wicket, dismissing O’Dowd with a quicker one which did not turn and went straight like a flipper hitting the pads in front of the wicket for an easy LBW decision.

Shadab was then brought on in the 15th over in an attempt to dismiss the well settled Ackermann who tried to reverse sweep the bowler. Ackermann missed and Shadab hit the pads and it was plumb enough for the umpire to raise his finger in a matter of few seconds. On a pitch with pace and bounce where faster bowlers were expected to dominate, Shadab came out of syllabus and outfoxed the Netherlands batters with his smart variations of leg spin, flippers and top spinners.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Group 2, IND vs PAK: Kohli's unbelievable 82* bamboozles Pakistan; India win

Shaheen Shah Afridi took 1-19 against Netherlands (Source: ©Getty Images)

Pakistan pace battery dismantles Netherlands in Perth

With the kind of pace power that Pakistan has, domination by the faster bowlers was always on the cards. Shaheen Shah Afridi was back onto the wicket column after two wicketless innings as he dismissed Stephan Myburgh with a bouncer. Pakistan fast bowlers were quick to learn and kept on bowling the short of good length deliveries which took off at pace courtesy the bounce and speed available in Perth.

Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah both terrorised the Dutch batters with their pace as they kept nagging on the backfoot and pressure kept on building. Rauf then bowled a pacy bouncer which hit Bas de Leede’s helmet and he was out retired hurt. Naseem Shah then dismissed the Netherlands captain Edwards for 15 and that was it with respect to Netherlands posting any defendable score on the board.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Group 2, IND vs NED: SKY’s 51*, Kohli’s 62* drive India to 2nd win & top of Group 2

Glover the only shining star for Netherlands with 2-22 (Source: ©Getty Images)

Brandon Glover the only shining star for Netherlands with 2-22

Defending a modest total of 91, Netherlands were never in the game with Pakistan scoring 53 in their first seven overs. Brandon Glover then with his height exploited the bounce available from the wicket by bowling hard length balls. He was experimental in dismissing Fakhar Zaman who was looking dangerous from ball one.

Glover then came back in the 14th over when the match was already done and dusted but didn’t disappoint the Dutch fans as he dismissed Shan Masood with a short delivery in reply to which the Pakistan batter could only manage to give catching practice to the third man fielder.

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 Points Table

Group 2 Points Table

Points Table Scenario & What’s to Come

Not much changes in the points table with Pakistan’s victory as both the teams, Pakistan and Netherlands, are at exactly the same position they were before Sunday’s match. While Pakistan opened their tally with 2 points and a positive net run rate (NRR) of 0.765, Netherlands were knocked out of the tournament.

Bangladesh’s win over Zimbabwe means that they are now placed second in Group 2 with four points and an NRR of -1.533. While India take on South Africa in the third match of the day in Perth, it would be interesting to see whether India still would be the table-toppers or will South Africa dislodge them from the top.

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