Two nations whose cricketing culture is knitted together through the movement of cricketers between them will lock horns this Monday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Both teams have had contrasting arrivals on the big stage. On day 1, New Zealand smoked fellow 2019 finalists to oblivion with Wellington Duo, Conway-Rachin scoring centuries in their World Cup debuts. On the other hand, the Netherlands did well to compete against Pakistan but lacked the ability to close down the game from winning situations.
Nevertheless, 9th October will be a new day and also a new opportunity for both teams to progress with their campaign.
Team Overview
Netherlands
With the equation standing at 167 runs from 157 balls, combined with the 7 wickets in hand, all of us neutrals anticipated the first big upset of the tournament but it wasn’t to be as Netherlands bundled out within the 41st over. This was the story of the Netherlands throughout their first match. They managed to get the balance of the game to tilt towards their fringe, however also, always managed to let Pakistan slip away. This has been an issue for the team for the past few years, where the bowling is impeccable during the powerplay however the accurate lines disappear during the middle overs.
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The Dutch fans would be also disappointed with how the middle order, which was a big factor in them reaching the big stage, collapsed against the raw pace of Rauf and Co. Anyways, there were also silver linings in the cloud of defeat.
Bas De Leede became the only 2nd player to score 50+ runs and take 4+ wickets in consecutive ODI matches.
Apart from this Aryan Dutt and Ackermann’s overs give them hope that if the Hyderabad pitch plays as it did on 6th October, then this duo and Van Der Merwe can contain the inform Kiwi batting.
New Zealand
A team that found itself within fewer top 4 prediction lists compared to the rest of the SENA countries, reminded all of us exactly why they are the finalists of the previous 2 editions. After restricting the explosive English batting despite not playing their full-strength bowling attack, Conway and Rachin never gave an inch to the opposition, Stichting the highest partnership in WC chases.
For context, this same New Zealand had just lost a 4 match series against the same opponents a month ago.
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New Zealand is plagued with injuries with 3 of their 15 members being unfit for selection before the 1st game, including captain Kane Williamson. The side’s fortune depends largely on the availability of these players.
Pitch Report
As discussed in one of our previous reports, the Uppal stadium was expected to be one of the more batting-friendly grounds of the tournaments, with batsmen making good use of the shorter side boundaries and the pitch was expected to stay true throughout the 100 overs.
The average first-innings score in the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium during IPL2023 was 172.5.
However, the pitch turned out to be much more helpful towards the spinners than expected, with Aryan Dutt getting the ball to grip and turn from the very first delivery. Pakistan spinners weren’t able to utilize the conditions properly however Santner and Sodhi(if he is selected) might do better justice to the unexpected advantages provided to them.
Probable Playing XI
New Zealand: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson/Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Matt Henry
One of the questions before the WC opener was the batting position of Rachin Ravindra. Some felt he would continue at the lower order, whereas others wanted him to open, his preferred role in the domestic circuit. In the end, all were proved wrong when he was sent at number 3. Well, this time around we believe he would be partnering Conway from ball 1, given his 96 balls 123* and also the underwhelming performance of Will Young as an opener in ODIs.
Talking about Will Young, his position is under threat if Kane Williamson is fit to be back on the field. There is no official statement published on Williamson’s availability though he was seen practicing with the team on Saturday. The team might back WIll Young who averages over 50 at the number 3 position and drop Neesham to accommodate the smiling-assassin.
Anyhow Kane isn’t the only threat to Neesham’s place in the team, with Chapman having done nothing wrong (actually nothing) in the opener but we feel New Zealand will give Jimmy one more chance due to him providing a fast-bowling option.
There’s also the question of whether will they play an extra spinner in the form of Sodhi due to how the pitch played out on the 6th. If Ferguson is fit, then the Kiwi management has to make one more tricky decision.
Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas De Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards, Logan Van Beek, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Ryan Klein, Paul Van Meekeren, Aryan Dutt.
Netherlands will look to retain their XI from Day 2 except for Saqib Zulfiqar. He has been one of the biggest contributors towards Netherlands’s woes in the middle leaking runs at an economy of 6.35 and considering he bowled only 2 overs against Pakistan, his batting average of 15.92 isn’t enough to retain a spot.
Netherlands might fall back to Barresi who has been one of the better players of spin recently, striking at 109 against them. In such a case Teja Nidamanuru might have to sit out, which he indeed did during the warm-up encounter against Australia.
Players To Watch Out For
Trent Boult
After having a rocky start to the tournament where his half volleys were covered by Matt Henry’s controlled line & length, we expect the first-over king to make a comeback tomorrow.
Boult has picked up 18 wickets during overs 1-10 since the last World Cup. His average of 13.67 during this phase is the best among all participating bowlers. The Dutch openers did well to see out Shaheen and would want to do the same to yet another left-armer on the 9th of October.
Wellington Duo
It felt like deja vu with respect to how Finn Allen started the proceedings of the 2022 T20 WC when Conway-Rachin took on the English pacers, scoring 275 runs at a blistering strike rate of 126.7.
Thus, there’s no reason for us to believe that this rock’n’roll express would stop at Hyderabad. Conway has been one of the most consistent performers for the past 12 months, averaging 47 or above across all 4 series he has played in this period.
On the other hand, Rachin seems to have finally decoded the ODI format, after being promoted to his natural position; at the top order.
Both of them are lefties and thus may have issues against the right-arm spinner Aryan Dutt, who bowled brilliantly with the new ball in the Netherlands’s first match.
Bas De Leede
With 4 wickets coming at intervals of 2 each in a single over combined with a 68 ball 67 in the 2nd innings, Bas De Leede put up one of the best All-Round performances for a losing cause in World Cups.
Taking the role of providing breakthroughs in the middle combined with containing the runs at the death, Bas De Leede is the only player in this World Cup along with Shakib who bats at the top 5 and is also one of the frontline bowlers of their respective teams. His father Tim De Leede didn’t have a memorable encounter against New Zealand in the 03 WC and Bas would be determined to change this family tradition.
NZ vs NED Dream11 Team for Match 6 of 2023 WC
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