Pakistan kept their hopes of making it to the semifinals alive as they beat Netherlands by 6 wickets in what was a do-or-die game for the Men in Green. It was not only Pakistan's first win in T20 World Cup 2022 but the nation's first T20I victory in Australia.
Deciding to bat first, the Dutch had a slow start against the pace attack of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. Netherlands lost opener Stephan Myburgh cheaply in the 3rd over as Afridi took his first wicket of this World Cup.
Haris Rauf joined the attack and hit Bas de Leede on the face with one of his fierce bouncers forcing him to sit out the rest of the innings. His replacement Tim Cooper, got dismissed for 1 as well.
Colin Ackermann top scored for the Dutch with 27 runs as wickets at regular intervals meant that Pakistan bowled out Netherlands for just 91 runs in the end.
Chasing which, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam lost his wicket early yet again for just 4 runs. Fakhar Zaman, who played his first game of the tournament, also failed to impress and was out for 20.
Opener Mohammad Rizwan top scored for Pakistan but missed his half-century by a single run as he was dismissed on 49. Though the Men in Green lost 4 wickets in total, Rizwan's stable innings steered his team to a 6-wicket victory against the Netherlands.