Pakistan eyes easier ride on World Cup rollercoaster

Four years later, Pakistan is already on a familiar rollercoaster of tournaments.

They were eliminated from last month’s Asia Cup after a heavy defeat against arch-rivals India before being eliminated by Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage.

They also lost their recent World Cup preparations against New Zealand and Australia.

Despite the poor form, captain Babar Azam insists his team is ready for the World Cup in a country only two members of the team have visited.

Pakistan last played in India in 2016 in the Twenty20 World Cup.

“We had a good practice in the last week since our arrival and two useful training sessions in the warm-up matches,” Azam said.

The captain is the highest-ranked batsman in ODI cricket and reinforced his credentials with knocks of 80 and 90 in the two warm-ups, returning to form after a dismal Asia Cup.

“The first match of a tournament is always very important, so we are looking forward to a winning start,” he said.

Babar insisted that Pakistan, the 1992 champions, will not underestimate the Dutch, a team they have defeated six times in six meetings.

The Netherlands, ranked 14th in the world, had to get through the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe earlier this year and reached the World Cup together with Sri Lanka.

“I want to congratulate Holland for playing in this World Cup. They played good cricket in the qualifiers and that’s why they are here,” added Babar.

“There is no room for complacency and we will be attentive from the first game.”

Pakistan will hope their trio of Shadab Khan, Usama Mir and Mohammad Nawaz, backed by part-timers Iftikhar Ahmed and Agha Salman, expose the opponents’ weaknesses against slow bowling in the tournament.

Although they are without the injured Naseem Shah, spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf will provide a formidable new threat on the ball.

The Netherlands has only won two matches in the World Cup since its first appearance in 1996.

Spinners Colin Ackermann and Roelof van der Merwe, and pacer Paul van Meekeren are back after missing the qualifiers.

Wesley Barresi, the only surviving member of the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, brings experience to the batting that also features top runners Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Teja Nidamanuru and captain Scott Edwards.

But their hopes rest largely on the versatile Bas de Leede and Logan van Beek, key players in the qualifying round.

De Leede scored 285 runs and picked up 15 wickets in Zimbabwe, while Van Beek smashed 30 runs and took two wickets in the Super Over victory against the West Indies.

“The opportunity to play in a World Cup is something a lot of these guys have dreamed of,” said Edwards, who was born in Tonga.

Despite their status as outsiders, the Dutch do not lack confidence.

“We have high hopes going into this World Cup that we can put in a couple of really big performances that can translate into wins,” coach Ryan Cook told AFP.

“We will do everything we can to get five or six wins to get us to the semi-finals.”

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