ROTTERDAM: Pakistan’s star batter in the first ODI against the Netherlands, Fakhar Zaman, admitted the touring team could have played better against the hosts.
Fakhar, who led the charge to a competitive total for Pakistan with a magnificent century, spoke to this reporter and here and acknowledged that the Greenshirts could have played better while emphasizing different conditions that resulted in a slow start for the touring team.
“Without a doubt, we could have played better than this. The ball seemed too much at first and the Dutch bowlers did exceptionally well too. So the credit goes to them too,” Fakhar said.
“We were facing difficulties at the beginning, as the ball seemed quite a lot and there were also spins. So the plan with Babar was that we shouldn’t give away land no matter how few the races were,” he revealed.
The left-handed opener then went on to comment on the team’s performance and the narrow victory against the Netherlands and emphasized that no team is weak in international cricket while stating that the players did not feel like the match was slipping out of their hands at any point. moment. .
“At no time did we feel that the match was slipping away from us. This is cricket and you can’t relax until the last ball, the Netherlands played well but the game was in our hands,” Fakhar said.
“No team is weak, three of their players were fired early, but the partnership was still brilliant for them,” he concluded.
It is timely to mention here that the full-strength Pakistan team managed to hold off the Netherlands by a slim margin of 16 runs in the first ODI of the three-match series.
Fakhar was the batsmen’s choice as he smashed a magnificent 109 from as many balls, laced with 12 bounds and a six.
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