Ryan Cook, the head coach of the Netherlands, claimed that Pakistan cricket team is beatable and that his squad has confidence going up against Pakistan after playing close matches against them in the ODI Super League in the past.
The Netherlands’ head coach declared prior to its match with Pakistan that his team is optimistic about performing well against Pakistan.
“I think every team wants to win the game that they play. But we’ve obviously seen that Pakistan team is beatable, so that’s good to know,” he said when asked if he would be hoping to repeat what Zimbabwe did.
“Obviously, playing them in the World Super League not so long ago in the Netherlands has given us a lot of confidence because we came quite close in those matches. Hoping to get over the line this time. It would be great,” he added.
The coach said that the Netherlands bowling attack is “firing well” and hoped to take some quick wickets against Pakistan on Sunday.
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“Our bowling attack is firing well, and hopefully we can keep taking more wickets to give ourselves a bit more time at the back end to be able to make some inroads into the Pakistan batting order,” he said.
Replying to a question, Cook said that playing earlier against Pakistan has allowed his side to understand their position against Pakistan and they know what Pakistanis would be throwing at them in the match tomorrow.
“Pakistan have a lot of pacers, and we’ve faced them before, so we’re more familiar with what they have to throw at us,” he said.
“They do have a very well-varied attack, so we’ll be having to put our plans in place for them. Obviously, all the different batters are coming up with their individual plans against them and practising those in the nets, so we’ll be able to bring them out tomorrow in the match,” the Netherlands’ coach added.
“I suppose both teams start on zero points tomorrow, and both teams are even in that regard,” he said.
“It’s not up to us how they play, but we can control how we play, and I think that’s really the most important part that we follow those processes and make sure that we tick those boxes for ourselves,” Cook concluded.
After defeat to India and Zimbabwe, Pakistan will play the Netherlands on Sunday at Perth Stadium in a game that they absolutely must win in order to stay in the tournament.