INTRODUCTION:
Both Pakistan & Netherlands will kick start their World Cup campaign at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. After months and months of battle between BCCI and PCB, the Pakistanis have finally made it to India and have been enjoying their Hyderabadi Biriyani. Netherlands on the other side will be touring India for the first time since the 2011 World Cup.
PAKISTAN:
A month ago, a completely different Pakistan team was ready to travel to India for the World Cup. But after that disastrous Asia Cup were they finished at the bottom of the table, things have changed drastically. Unfortunate injuries to their pacers are also a reason, but the world’s one of the best seam attack looked impotent in the warm-up games. They conceded in excess of 350 in both the games. Their spin department is also not doing great as their prime spinner Shadab is still find difficult to penetrate. Their bowling woes have somewhat overshadowed their batting concerns. Fakhar is not at his fluent best and they have a difficult task of selecting either one of Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Shafique. On the whole Pakistan would be slightly happy to face Netherlands in their opening game as they look to gain some confidence.
NETHERLANDS:
The Dutch play their major ICC 50 over tournament after 12 years at the same place where they last played. But this time though, they looked more threatening if not they are in to cause an upset. They will be high on confidence considering they have defeated teams like West Indies and Scotland in the qualifies handsomely. Wesley Barresi will be the only player in their squad to have played a World Cup before. Baring the results, the experience they gain in this tournament will help them in the upcoming tournaments as their squad is fairly young.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI:
PAKISTAN: Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Saud Shakeel, Ifthikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
NETHERLANDS: Vikramjit Singh, Max O' Dowd, Wesley Barresi , Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards (C & WK), Teja Nidamanuru, Colin Ackerman, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekreen, Aryan Dutt.
INTERESTING MATCH-UPS:
- The battle between Shaheen Afridi and the Dutch top order would be a good contest as they struggled against Mitchell Starc in the warmup game.
- Bas de leede against the Pakistani spinners would be another good contest as he likes to take on the spinners and both Nawaz and Shadab will take the ball away from the right hander.
INTERESTING FACTS & STATS:
- Pakistan and Netherlands have played 6 ODIs so far in which Pakistan have won all of them.
- Shaheen Afridi became the youngest bowler to take a five wicket haul in the world cup against Bangladesh in 2019.
- Bas de leede became only the fourth player to take a five fer and score a Hundred in the same match in ODIs in recently concluded World Cup qualifies.
- Imam ul Haq needs 24 runs to reach 3000 ODI runs.
WEATHER, PITCH AND VENUE DETAILS:
DATE: 06th October 2023
TIME: 2.00 PM (IST)
VENUE: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.
PREDICTIONS:
TOSS: The team which wins the toss might choose to Bat first and make use of the flat pitch and expect the ball to swing under the lights later in the evening.
WEATHER: 0.0 mm of rain and 73% Humidity is expected.
WINNING CHANCES: PAKISTAN 85% NETHERLANDS 15%.
DREAM 11 FANTASY TEAM:
