The Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first against Afghanistan in a must-win match of the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup played at the Ekanna Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India on Friday (Nov. 03).
Having already won three matches, Afghanistan’s hopes of reaching their first-ever World Cup semi-finals depend only on them. Luck is out of the factor and it will only rely on their performance. They face the Netherlands in ODI 34, another side punched above their weight. The flying Dutch got back on track with a campaign-reviving win against battered Bangladesh, and are the only team to have defeated South Africa in this tournament.
Both sides have faced each other in nine ODIs, with Afghanistan coming out on top on seven occasions and the Netherlands have won twice. They have never met at the World Cup.
The Lucknow pitch is expected to aid spinners, and it could hugely boast the Afghans, who boast a four-pronged spin attack, consisting of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammed Nabi. This could be a key factor as the Dutch are the second-slowest team against spin in this World Cup (4.70 runs per over).
Bangladesh are the slowest team against spin in this tournament. To deal with the Afghan spin magic, the Dutch could rely a lot on the experience of their captain Scott Edwards, who has an average of 65.92 against spin in ODIs with 791 runs off 794 balls. He will be expected to take on the likes of Mujeeb and Rashid.
The Afghans have been on a historic run in India this year, and also boast a strong backroom staff. Their head coach is none other than England legend Jonathan Trott and they also have former India captain Ajay Jadeja as their team mentor.
Due to Jadeja’s presence in the team, the side has enjoyed a certain advantage in terms of understanding the pitch and conditions, and also the opposition
Speaking in the pre-match press conference, Trott said, “I think Ajay obviously brings a lot of experience having played a lot of cricket in India. He’s always a good sounding board with regards to conditions and the venues and probably also the other subcontinent teams that we’ve played against. He has a lot of experience in that way, having played a lot against different countries.”
“So, he brings his vast experience to the players, but also, as for myself as a coach, as a good signing board with decision making and sort of planning going forward for each game, and also another good set of eyes on the players to see how they’re preparing for the matches and how their careers and talent is being utilized,” he further added.
In the past, one of the main strengths for the Netherlands was their top order. But in the ongoing World Cup, they have failed to fire and haven’t been up to the mark. Explaining his side’s average top-order showing, Colin Ackermann said, “We haven’t formed the foundation that we would have liked as a batting unit so far this tournament, but I suppose we have to look individually at how we’re getting out. We haven’t played the perfect game yet with the bat. We know that our middle order and our lower order are very capable of scoring runs towards the back end. So, I think if we can set the game up as a top order, top 3- 4 batters...It just takes two guys to form a good partnership and we’ll set up a very good score.”
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad
Netherlands Playing XI: Wesley Barresi, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards(w/c), Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
--with inputs from agencies
