On their FIH Pro League debut, Pakistan had shown grit and resilience to stay on level terms with the Netherlands halfway through their match at the Santiago del Estero Hockey Club in Argentina, only for a meltdown in the third quarter seeing the Dutch power to a 5-2 victory on Tuesday.

In the opener of the mini-tournament which will see Pakistan face the Dutch and host Argentina twice, the Greenshirts struck first when Hannan Shahid sliced through the Dutch defence from the left, driving into the circle and blasting his shot past the outstretched foot of Mauritz Visser.

The Dutch equalised before the end of the opening quarter, sparked by a tempo-setting tackle from Thierry Brinkman that launched a right-side attack. Koen Bijen did well to lead into out space and fire the hosts level, before Timo Boers put them 2–1 up with a penalty-corner conversion just ahead of the first break.

Pakistan hit back early in the second quarter, Sufyan Khan flicking home from a penalty corner to make it 2–2 at half-time.

But the match ultimately turned on set pieces. The Dutch capitalised twice more in the third quarter, with Tijmen Reyenga and Boers each converting penalty corners.

Duco Telgenkamp added a clever baseline finish for the Netherlands’ fourth of the period, setting up a final 15 minutes they controlled comfortably.

“I think we needed time to come in to the game and we did well improving throughout,” Reyenga said.

“We had a great second half. We didn’t know how (Pakistan) would play against us so I think we did well and anticipated well. We got the three points and can move on.”