Mohammad Rizwan thinks Pakistan ticked most of the boxes in their 81-run win over the Netherlands here on Friday. But the margin of win probably doesn’t narrate the story in its entirety. While the bat and ball contest was on in the middle, a different game was being played in the stands and Pakistan were losing it, mostly. Mohammed Bashir, the white-bearded ardent Pakistan supporter from Chicago who is better known as “Bashir Chacha”, was at a loss for words often while being seated in one of the hospitality boxes during the Pakistan innings in the face of banter from an adjacent box which had Netherlands supporters.

It was almost like a game of antakshari as the Dutch supporters — basically Indians who were representing the sponsors of the Netherlands team — taunted Bashir Chacha with retro Bollywood songs every time a Pakistan wicket fell. So when they sang, Chup chup khade ho zaroor koi baat hai, the old man, his dress resembling the Pakistan flag, could hardly counter.

There were many such moments in the first half of the match before the Pakistanis reorganised themselves to avert danger. Before they reached 40, both the openers and captain Babar Azam, had walked back to the hut. The run rate was also an issue — they were 43/3 after the first 10 Powerplay overs.

Progress Report The Telegraph

But then began the rebuilding job, with Rizwan and Saud Shakeel playing the architects. The two first corrected the overcautious approach that was somewhat responsible for the downfall of the top order. They counterattacked. Rizwan hit eight boundaries, one less than Shakeel, who also had a six in his bag, and the two collaborated for a priceless 120 runs in quick time. The Dutch bowlers, who were very impressive at the start, went on the backfoot.

The orange men fought back by removing both Rizw­an (68) and Shakeel (68) in a span of four overs to bringPakistan to their knees. But the 1992 World Cup champio­ns stood up again, this time th­rough Mohammad Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32), who shared a 64-run partnership for the seventh wicket. That helped the team to push their total before they were all out for 286.

On a pitch that had bounce and was also offering turn, it was going to be a Herculean task for the Dutch team in their chase. But to their credit, they kept Pakistan under pressure reaching 120/2 before the 25th over. But Haris Rauf (3/43), Has­an Ali (2/33) and spinners Na­waz and Shadab kept their focus to ultimately force the Dutch to blink.'

The Netherla­nds lost three wickets betw­een the 24th and the 27th over and could never recover, despite a fighting knock from Bas de Leede (67 off 68 balls). De Leede had also taken four wickets. In the end, the majority of the 8,196 persons who were in attendance in the stands could go home happy with a Pakistan win. But were all boxes ticked? Certainly not the one where Bashir Chacha sat.