Netherlands will face Afghanistan in a competitive match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. This will be their second game at the venue. In their last game here, the Dutch scored 262 runs batting first against Sri Lanka.
Netherlands and Afghanistan will meet in the 34th match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup in Lucknow on Friday afternoon. Both teams have exceeded expectations so far in the tournament and come into this game believing that they can achieve another win. The Netherlands have won two out of six games while Afghanistan won three out of their six games. The day-night match will begin at 2:00 p.m. local time at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium.
The Netherlands bounced back from two early defeats against Bangladesh to win by comfortable margins and the confidence will be evident in most players ahead of this game. However, they will need to produce some quality runs if they are to beat in-form Afghanistan.
Afghanistan have transformed themselves from a team that had won just one Cricket World Cup game before this tournament and lost the first two this season, to a team that has real ambitions of reaching the last four. They will look forward to this duel with confidence.
Match Preview
The Netherlands will face Afghanistan for the first time in the 34th match of the 2023 ICC World Cup.
The Netherlands are currently at the eighth position on the ICC World Cup 2023 points table, while Afghanistan are currently at the fifth position on the points table. The Netherlands played six matches in the ICC World Cup 2023 in which they won two games, while Afghanistan also played six matches in this tournament and won three games.
Netherlands played their last game against Bangladesh and won that game by 87 runs. Scott Edwards scored 68 runs in this game while Paul van Meekeren took four wickets for the Netherlands. On the other hand, Afghanistan played their last game against Sri Lanka where they won that game by seven wickets. Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Omarzai hit 62 runs and 73 runs respectively for Afghanistan in this match.
These two teams have played nine games against each other in this format so far, with the Netherlands winning two games while Afghanistan won the remaining games.
Pitch Report
The surface at Ekana Cricket Stadium for the upcoming ODI World Cup match is most likely to be preferred by the bowlers. As one of the few bowler-friendly surfaces in India, spinners could benefit greatly from this pitch. The batters will try to remain patient at the start of the innings and it could be a wise decision to bowl first and go for the target.
Weather Report
Conditions are not expected to change significantly over the course of the game as temperatures will be in the high 20s and it will be partly cloudy from start to finish.
Toss Prediction
There have been four games played at this venue in the tournament so far, with two wins for the first batting teams and two for the chasing teams. Our prediction is that Afghanistan will choose to bowl first while Netherlands will choose to bat first if they win the toss.
Head to Head
Both teams have faced each other in 9 ODIs so far. Afghanistan were the dominant team with seven wins, while the Netherlands only managed two wins.
Match Prediction
The Netherlands and Afghanistan have become the second teams in the tournament for many cricket fans, as they are able to compete with and beat some of the more experienced and quality teams. England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were all beaten by one or both of them in this competition! We expect a quality game with both teams looking to attack the other with positive shots at the top of their lineups. Overall, we see more winners in the Afghan team who can win the game and we support them to win a close game.
Afghanistan beats the Netherlands.
Venue Details
The venue for this match is the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Four matches of this World Cup have been played here so far and this will be the last one. The average first innings score here is 229 runs, but for a game-winning score, the team batting first should expect a little over 260-270 runs. Considering the bowling attack of both teams, such a total can be very competitive.
Betting Tips
Netherlands and Afghanistan came into this tournament as underdogs and impressed everyone with their fearless brand of cricket. However, we feel that Afghanistan has a slight advantage over their opponents given their stronger batting line-up.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, are known for causing surprises and we can expect a close duel between the two teams.
Scott Edwards – The captain has won admirers around the world for his batting and leadership skills in this tournament. He was the Netherlands' top scorer in two of the last four games.
Wesley Barresi – The veteran right-handed batsman came into the team for the final game and played with really positive intent. In this game, he will look to improve on his run score of 41 against Bangladesh.
Paul van Meekeren – The 30-year-old right-arm pace bowler was at his best in the win in Lucknow as he took the wickets of Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Taskin Ahmed.
Aryan Dutt – The off-spinner continues to bowl with brilliant control and causes problems whenever he has the ball in his hand. He failed to opener Litton Das against Bangladesh and bowled three maidens.
Afghanistan Key Players
Ibrahim Zadran – The 21-year-old had a slow start to the 2023 Cricket World Cup but has found his feet in the last two innings with a total of 126 runs in the games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Rahmat Shah – The number three batsman has become a very reliable presence for Afghanistan. After scoring 37 runs in the first three games, he has now scored 175 runs in the last three games.
Rashid Khan The leg-spinner played his 100th ODI in the win over Sri Lanka and marked the occasion by dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva with a perfectly executed googly.
Fazalhaq Farooqi The left-arm pace bowler made it clear that he doesn't like being left out of the team by dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne, Charith Asalanka, Maheesh Theekshana and Angelo Mathews in the last game.
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