HYDERABAD, India (AP) — The Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and elected to field against Pakistan in the opening Cricket World Cup match for both teams on Friday.
Pakistan's batters have become accustomed to the conditions in Hyderabad, going close to scoring 350 despite losing both warm-up games against New Zealand and Australia.
Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have scored prolifically, with Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed also among the runs.
Babar said he would be eyeing a total of 280 on Friday, but Pakistan needs to step up its bowling in the absence of Naseem Shah, who has undergone shoulder surgery and is ruled out of the World Cup.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali has replaced the injured Naseem and will be playing in his first ODI since featuring against the West Indies over a year ago.
Pakistan has kept faith in struggling vice-captain Shadab Khan, who had a below-par Asia Cup.
Rain has hampered the Dutch preparations, with the team's second warm-up game against India being washed out.
Netherlands qualified for the World Cup with a dramatic victory against the West Indies, but the soccer-dominated country hasn’t played a full ODI for three months.
It has a strong batting line-up with the likes of aggressive opening pair Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh, while Edwards, Logan van Beek and Bas de Leede are all solid middle-order performers.
The six-week World Cup began on Thursday with New Zealand routing defending champion England by nine wickets in Ahmedabad, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra smashing unbeaten centuries.
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Line-ups:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (captain), Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
