Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards won the toss and opted to bowl against Pakistan in the 2nd match of the ODI World Cup 2023 on Friday (Oct. 06).

Pakistan are starting out their World Cup campaign with a match against the Netherlands, played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Babar Azam remarked that India has taken good care of the Pakistani side. He added that his side is looking to put 290-300 runs on the board.

Meanwhile, Scott Edwards said, “We will bowl first, might get a little bit easier under lights. For us it’s about adjusting and seeing how the pitch is playing.”

The Netherlands had a busy schedule of ODI matches between March and July this year, facing Zimbabwe and South Africa before playing in the World Cup qualifiers. They had two warm-up matches before this tournament, both of which were washed out. While they could play a few overs in their first match against Australia, their warm-up against India was washed out without the toss taking place.

Pakistan, on the other hand, could play two full warm-up matches. Both those games were in Hyderabad and so they would now be quite well-versed in the conditions.

The tournament started off Thursday with New Zealand handing defending champions England a 10-wicket hiding. England had made a competitive total of 282/9 but New Zealand made a mockery of that.

Pakistan will be hoping that they too can get a dominant win under their belt and thus get an early boost for their net run rate.

Pakistan Playing XI: Babar Azam (c), Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.

Netherlands Playing XI: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (wk/c), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren.

-with inputs from agencies