The Netherlands and Afghanistan, two minnows who have punched above their weight in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, will face off at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, November 3. Playing against giant killers, the Dutchmen won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Skipper Scott Edwards confirmed that his side made one change, with Vikramjit Singh making way for Wesley Barresi. For Afghanistan, they do not have Naveen ul Haq, who plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He will be replaced by Noor Ahmad.
Afghanistan's 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
What is the Pitch Report?
"Let's see what the conditions have in store for us. Pretty similar square boundaries - 66m and 67m, respectively. The pitch is a combination of red and black soil, and there is a bit of grass rolled in. The Australia-Sri Lanka game, which also had a red-black soil combination surface, it did not take a massive amount of turn, meaning it will be interesting to see how much of a role spinners play today. Shaun Pollock feels it could be an advantage to bat first, considering it might break up later," reported the broadcasters.
What did the captains say?
“We wanted to bat, but that doesn't matter. We need to play 100 overs of good cricket. It'll spin. We are trying to play good cricket. We are going with four spinners. Noor Ahmad is in for Naveen. A lot of support, in this WC, everyone's praying for us. We are happy for that. The focus will be on today's game,” revealed Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan skipper.
“We'll bat first. It has worked well for us. The wicket looks decent. Hopefully put on the runs and defend it. We have made one change. That's something we've spoken about, our top-order needs to make more runs. We've got Barresi coming up to the top and Vikramjit is missing out. We are still fighting for the spot in the semi-final. We have to play a lot of good cricket. As a group, that (CT) is not something we are focusing on. That comes with potentially playing good cricket,” Scott Edwards told the broadcasters.
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