Babar Azam and his boys are down, but are they out? We will know soon enough, but the Netherlands head coach has let slip fighting words ahead of Sunday’s crunch contest.
By Usama Ghazi
ISLAMABAD: Encouraged by Zimbabwe’s thrashing of Pakistan this Thursday, the Netherlands cricket team is eying victory over the Green Shirts when the two sides come face to face in a 2022 T20 World Cup fixture Sunday.
Both the Netherlands and Zimbabwe are minnows relative to Pakistan, a cricketing great power with many laurels to its name. However, this top billing did the Shaheens no good on Thursday when they lost to Zimbabwe by one run.
Media reports from Perth quote Ryan Cook, the head coach of the Netherlands, as saying ahead of Sunday’s game that Pakistan is “a beatable side”.
Cook told reporters that his side recently played against Pakistan in August 2022, when it put up an impressive show resulting in high morale.
“We were close to defeating Pakistan and this time we are going to achieve the target”, he said. “Team Netherlands had tried and tested its abilities against Pakistan in August.”
He said the fact that Zimbabwe has now beaten Pakistan is evidence enough that Pakistan Men in Green are not invincible.
Pakistan and Netherlands stand with zero points on the points table and will face each other on Sunday hoping to open their points account.
Ryan gushed that every side wants to win and so does his side. “Our bowling attack is in fine form and I hope they will restrict Pakistan’s batters. Our bowling unit will go for early wickets and we will keep them under pressure.”
The Netherlands’ head coach nevertheless praised Pakistan’s pace battery but said that his batters have prepared individual and collective plans to tackle the opposition and stood ready to take on the challenge on Sunday.
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