Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first against the Netherlands in the first ODI. The last time Netherlands and Pakistan locked horns in an ODI game, Vikramjit Singh was a 47-days-old baby. So, in the absence of recent history between the teams, they will be going in with a clean slate.

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam*, Mohammad Rizwan†, Agha Salman, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim , Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, SA Edwards*†, W Barresi, TLW Cooper, AT Nidamanuru, MP O'Dowd, BFW de Leede, TJG Pringle, LV van Beek, A Dutt, VJ Kingma

Although Cricket is not the binding force that brings together the Dutch and the Pakistanis, these two nations enjoy a healthy rivalry in the sport of field hockey. Arguably being the two most successful teams in the sport. If anything the Pakistani fans watching in Rotterdam will be well acquainted with the resolve and determination of the Dutch.

Pakistan broke a 4-match losing streak and have won 5-matches on the bounce now. Will they be able to make it 8 in a row or will Netherlands summon up an effort to put a halt to that streak? We are a few minutes away from the toss. We are two weeks away from the Asia Cup ( to be played in T20 format) and it seems odd that Pakistan are playing an ODI series.

https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1559459279819706374

https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1559436924393324544

https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1559456285690675203