Naseem Shah picked his maiden five-for while Mohammad Wasim claimed four scalps as Pakistan defended 206 in the third ODI against Netherlands on August 21.
The hosts put on an inspiring performance in the third ODI but Pakistan held on to a thrilling nine-run victory to complete a 3-0 series sweep.
For the large part of the chase of 207, it looked like the hosts would produce an upset with Vikramjit Singh scoring 50 off 85 at the top and adding 71 runs for the fourth wicket with Tom Cooper. They were 108 for 3 at one stage, needing 99 more off 118 balls.
Wasim then removed Vikramjit while Naseem cleaned up Scott Edwards with a beauty. Cooper and Teja Nidamanuru added 56 runs for the sixth wicket, bringing down the equation to 35 off 32. The Pakistan duo once again combined to remove the set pair to swing the match in Pakistan’s favour.
Naseem registered his maiden five-for, picking 5 for 33, whereas Wasim bagged 4 for 36 as he bowled out the hosts for 197.
Earlier in the first innings, Pakistan lost the debutant Abdullah Shafique in the second over, after which they batted with extreme caution. Fakhar Zaman scored 26 off 43 while Agha Salman added 24 off 42. Babar Azam was as solid as ever, bringing up his ninth fifty-plus score in the last 10 innings, albeit at a slow rate in 84 balls.
The Netherlands struck at regular intervals to keep Pakistan on edge. Babar missed his hundred by nine runs, with Aryan Dutt plucking an excellent diving catch on his own bowling. Bas de Leede picked 3 for 50 while Vivian Kingma bagged 2 for 15 as they bundled out the visitors for 206.
Brief scores
Pakistan 206 in 49.4 overs (Azam 91; de Leede 3/50, Kingma 2/15) defeated Netherlands 197 in 49.2 overs (Cooper 62, Singh 50; Naseem 5/33, Wasim 4/36) by 9 runs.
