Pakistan started their campaign in the World Cup with an 81-run victory against Netherlands at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. 

The Netherlands won the toss and chose to bowl against Pakistan in what is the first match of the tournament for both sides. 

The Netherlands showed glimpse of promise in the beginning, dismissing Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq within the first 10 overs. Pakistan returned to the match riding on Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan’s quick half centuries. The pair went on to dominate the Dutch for the rest of the first half of the innings. 

Shakeel got there in just 32 balls, which is the second fastest half century by any Pakistan batter in the history of the World Cup. The pair put up 120 for the fourth wicket off just 114 balls before Shakeel fell. 

However, there was another procession after that with Bas de Leede dismissing Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed shortly thereafter. Pakistan were back to being in a shaky spot before Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz shored things up. The pair ended up putting more than 50 runs for the seventh wicket. Pakistan innings finally ended in 286, losing all their wickets.

The Netherlands then got off to a rather good start in the chase, largely thanks to Vikramjit Singh. Hasan Ali dismissed Vikramjit's opening partner Max O'Dowd in the sixth over but Pakistan haven't quite done the kind of damage Netherlands did in the first 10 overs. However, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf did trigger a middle-over collapse as Netherlands lost three quick wickets.

Saud Shakeel (68) and Vikramjit Singh (52) were top scorers in Netherlands innings. Haris Rauf captured three wickets giving away 43 runs in nine overs. Netherlands were all out for 205.