Bas de Leede, an all-rounder for the Netherlands, excelled with both bat and ball against Pakistan on Friday, October 6, in the second match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. De Leede top scored for his team with an innings of 67 (68) that included six fours and two sixes after taking 4/62 with the ball. On the fourth ball of the 29th over, the right-handed batter hit one of the best shots of the game by pulling Haris Rauf for a six. Even after hitting the ball over the fence, the Dutch player was seen grinning at the Pakistan fast bowler.
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De Leede became just the third player to make a fifty and claim a four-wicket Haris Rauf on World Cup debut thanks to his all-around performance.
Before him, the same achievement had been accomplished by former Zimbabwe cricketers Duncan Fletcher (1983) and Neil Johnson (1999).
In order to help his team pass the 100-run threshold, De Leede and Vikramjit Singh (52 off 67) shared a stand of 70 runs off 76 balls. Earlier, he had statistics of 4/62 in nine overs with the ball after taking the coveted wickets of Mohammad Rizwan (68 off 75), Iftikhar Ahmed (9 off 11), Shadab Khan (32 off 34), and Hasan Ali. With 286 runs scored thanks to his performance, Netherlands were able to bowl Pakistan out in 49 overs.
The next match between Netherlands and New Zealand will be a battle.
Along with him, Colin Ackerman (2/39, 8 overs) also helped his team out by taking two wickets. De Leede put on an impressive all-around performance, but Pakistan ultimately prevailed by 81 runs to win the game. With the exception of van Leede and Vikramjit Singh, no other batsman scored more than 30 runs during their pursuit, and Netherlands were ultimately bowled out for 205.
In the meantime, Pakistan will play Sri Lanka on October 10 while Netherlands will play New Zealand in their subsequent match on October 9.