Pakistan beat Netherlands by 82 runs and sailed through to the Super 8s. It was a pressure match for Pakistan after having lost to England earlier. Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat. Openers Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt looked positive from the start. After adding 38 runs for the first wicket, Butt was dismissed for 18 runs. Other top order batsmen kept chipping away with runs. Good run-rate was maintained throughout the innings.

The team’s net run rate was less than that of Netherlands and hence needed a good total on the board. This time, the top order showed some grit by chipping in with decent scores. The top scorer was Kamran Akmal, who won the man-of-the-match award. He scored 41 runs off 30 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Shoaib Malik, Younus Khan, and Misbah-ul-Haq made useful contributions to take the total to 175/5.

Pakistan needed to restrict Netherlands to 150 or less to make it to the Super 8s. The bowlers did not disappoint. Netherlands lost wickets regularly, thanks to disciplined bowling by Pakistan. The team folded up for just 93 runs. Nobody in the Netherlands batting line-up got going. Shahid Afridi failed as a batsman, but made amends with the ball taking 4 wickets for 11 runs. He received good support from other bowlers. Saeed Ajmal took 3 wickets for 20 runs. 

Match Summary

Pakistan - 175/5 (Akmal 41, Younus Khan 36, Seelaar 2/36)

Netherlands – 93 all out (Kervezee 21, Afridi 4/11, Ajmal 3/20)

Result – Pakistan won by 82 runs

Man-of-the-match – Kamran Akmal

Venue – Lord’s, London (June 9, 2009)