The 34th Match of the ICC World Cup 2023 will be played between Netherlands and Afghanistan at Lucknow. The Match will be on 3rd November 2023. Both teams have played 6 games each in the event before this clash. Following is the Afghanistan vs Netherlands Preview of the ICC World Cup 2023.
Afghanistan vs Netherlands Today Match Preview
Afghanistan are still in the race of the semi-finals with 3 wins and 3 defeats in their 6 matches. They are on a tremendous run in this world cup, having defeated 3 former champions, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan’s win in this game will boost their chances of making it to the semis.
The Dutch are also in the race of the semis, but if they lose this game, they will become the 2nd Team, after Bangladesh to be eliminated from the semi-final race. The Netherlands registered an 87 run win against Bangladesh in their last game.
Lucknow traditionally supports the spinners. The track is slow and the ball grips and turns here. The last game played at Lucknow was between England and India. In both innings combined, only 358 runs were scored in that game. Netherlands have played one game at Lucknow and they suffered a defeat there against Sri Lanka.
Since the track supports the spinners, bowling first isn’t a bad idea here because in the first innings, ball grips the best and it gets a little easier to bat under the lights. Sri Lanka registered a win at Lucknow while chasing while India registered a win at Lucknow while defending. With the quality of attack Afghanistan has, if they bowl first, they can rip through the Dutch batting lineup quickly and the Afghani batters have been chasing well. Netherlands need to bat well, and figure out a way how to tackle the Afghan spinners in Lucknow.
Afghanistan Playing 11
Afghanistan are likely to retain their winning combination. Although the addition of Noor Ahmad can benefit them, but in order to do that they will have to sacrifice a pacer which could be Naveen-ul-Haq, but in that case they will have just two pacers which can hurt them with the death bowling thing.
Probable XI: R Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Ikram Alikhil, M Nabi, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Fazlhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq/Noor Ahmed.
Netherlands Playing 11
The Dutch can also show up with the same winning combination from the game against Bangladesh. Dutch openers have been very disappointing so far, so maybe they can ask Wesley Barresi to open and remove one of the two openers and add Teja Nidamanuru in the middle to further strengthen their batting.
Probable XI: 1 Vikramjit Singh/Max O’Dowd, 2 Wesley Barresi 3 Colin Ackermann, 4 Bas de Leede, 5 Teja Nidamanuru, 6 Scott Edwards (C & wk), 7 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 8 Shariz Ahmed, 9 Logan van Beek, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren
Head to Head Record
Both these sides have never played against each other in the world cup. Previously, they have faced each other 9 times in ODI cricket, with Afghanistan winning 7 and Netherlands winning 2.
Players to Watch Out For
Afghanistan’s batting is in great rhythm. Although Gurbaz got out for a duck in the previous game, he still has got good runs in ODI cricket this year and utilizes the PowerPlay brilliantly. Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, the skipper Shahidi himself and the surprise package of Azamtullah Omarzai all have batted really well in this World Cup. Ibrahim Zadran and Gurbaz average 35+ in the event, while Shahidi, Rahmat Shah and Omarzai average 40+ in the World Cup 2023 with the bat. Adding more fire to this lineup is Ikram Alikhil who averages the best among all Afghan batters in WC23 (77).
Moreover, the bowling is in good touch too. The spin trio of Mujeeb-Rashid-Nabi is hard to tackle. Pacer Fazlhaq Farooqi also took 4/34 in the last game against Sri Lanka so Afghanistan as a unit is performing tremendously well.
For the Dutch, their skipper Scott Edwards and Sybrand Engelbrecht have been the best batters. Both of them have been consistent. The addition of the experienced Wesley Barresi has been a good one too. He played his first game of the event against Bangladesh and scored 41.
Van Meekren and Van Beek are the most consistent and wicket-taking options the Dutch side has. The spinners do support them and collectively the Dutch have been a better bowling unit as compared to their batting.
Afghanistan vs Netherlands Toss Prediction
The Toss is likely to Netherlands’ way and they will opt to bat first, because chasing can be difficult for their batters against Afghan spinners..
Netherlands vs Afghanistan Match Prediction
Afghanistan will begin this game as favorites with 60 percent chance of winning.
