In the third and final ODI, Pakistan came within nine runs of defeating the Netherlands, but the visitors maintained their composure to win by nine runs and seal the series 3-0 on Sunday.
The Netherlands showed grit and played excellent cricket throughout the series, despite the 0-3 setback.
After choosing to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan struggled as the Netherlands' bowlers made an impact with the new ball. In the second over of the innings, debutant Abdullah Shafique was removed by Vivian Kingma.
Then, for Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam rebuilt the innings. When Logan van Beek dismissed Zaman (26) in the 18th over, the Netherlands had made a breakthrough. Babar had excellent company as Agha Salman helped him complete his eighth fifty-plus score in his previous 10 innings.
In the middle overs, Pakistan lost three wickets in rapid succession as the Netherlands mounted a valiant comeback. In the span of 31 runs, Salman, Khushdil Shah, and Mohammad Haris were all out.
Babar kept getting closer to a hundred, but he was unable to reach it because Aryan Dutt's breathtaking return catch terminated his innings nine runs short of a century. In the end, Pakistan was dismissed for 206 in 49.4 overs.
The Netherlands' response was a terrible start. Max O'Dowd and Musa Ahmed were both out in the first 10 overs by Naseem Shah, who has been making an impression on the trip, giving Pakistan a strong start.
The 19-year-old speedster's debut term was completed with a record of 5-0-14-2. As the game progressed, he came back to dismiss the captain, Scott Edwards, and added another wicket, Teja Nidamanuru, to end a potentially dangerous half-century partnership.
Naseem brought Pakistan back into the game each time he came to bowl, finishing with career-best statistics of 5 for 33. Naseem was well-supported by Mohammad Wasim, who finished with a four-wicket haul after taking the important wickets of Vikramjit Singh and Tom Cooper.
But the host wasn't one to give up that easily. The Netherlands outperformed Pakistan in the run chase, led by opener Vikramjit and the strong Cooper. Cooper reached three fifty-sevens in three games while Vikramjit completed his second half-century of the series. However, neither inning was nearly sufficient to give the Netherlands the winning margin boost they required.
Cooper kept the Netherlands in contention until late in the run chase, but he misplayed a slog off the same bowler in the 46th over and was removed for 62. Vikramjit's innings ended when he nicked Wasim to the wicketkeeper on 50.
Brief scores: Pakistan 206 in 49.4 overs (Babar Azam 91, Mohammad Nawaz 27; Bas de Leede 3-50, Vivian Kingma 2-15) beat Netherlands 197 in 49.2 overs (Tom Cooper 62, Vikramjit Singh 50; Naseem Shah 5-33, Mohammad Wasim Jr. 4-36) by 9 runs.