After five weeks of intense battles in the 2023 World Cup, the first phase of the round-robin league stage will come to an end after India locks horns with the Netherlands. The 45th game of the tournament will be staged in the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru and set to commence at 2:00 PM Local Time.
The last game of the league stage is nothing but a dead rubber as India has already made it to the semi-final with as many wins from eight matches. Meanwhile, the Netherlands have had an overwhelming season despite winning just two out of eight games thus far.
From the Indian perspective, they have been utterly dominant with both bat and ball in hand. Most of their triumphs have been one-sided affairs where the Men in Blue ripped off the opposition.
Teams such as Pakistan and New Zealand were going strong in the World Cup but faced four consecutive defeats right after facing India. Sri Lanka was humiliated by the Indian bowling attack after getting bundled for 55 while a dominant Proteas side was pushed against the wall in Eden Gardens as they got folded over for 83.
Since the Indian contingent has already qualified for the knockout stage, they could make a few changes to rest a few players in the team with Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, and Ishan Kishan sitting on the periphery waiting for a chance.
On the flip side, the Dutch side has had a season to remember. They were the first team to defeat a high-flying South African side in the World Cup and backed it by a victory against Bangladesh.
A side that featured in the ODI World Cup after twelve long years shocked the cricket fraternity by trouncing South Africa for the second time within a space of 365 days after enforcing an upset by spoiling South Africa’s party in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
The Netherlands have a great opportunity to book a spot for the 2025 Champions Trophy if England and Bangladesh lose in their respective matches against Pakistan and Australia respectively.
What have they done so far?
The Indian team initiated their tournament with a triumph against Australia in Chennai. A slight hiccup in batting was overcome and was followed by victories against Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh in Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Pune respectively.
Hardik Pandya was available for all these matches and Mohammad Shami was benched. Right after, the all-rounder injured his ankle in the Bangladesh clash, Shami came into the side and picked a fifer against New Zealand, thereby helping India claim a victory.
It was followed by triumphs against England, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. In their last three games, the Rohit Sharma-led unit has absolutely dominated the opposition with Shami taking a total of 16 wickets in four matches.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands side initiated the tournament with a gutsy performance against Pakistan. Despite being close to a victory, they failed to seal the deal. It was followed by a drubbing at the hands of New Zealand. However the Dutch trumped back with a valiant win against South Africa.
Failing to maintain the winning momentum, the Ryan Cook-coached group incurred losses against Sri Lanka and Australia. At the Eden Gardens, the Bangladesh side was steamrolled by the Orange brigade for 143 runs while chasing 229 runs. After two special performances, the Scott Edwards-led community suffered defeats at the hands of Afghanistan and England.
Head to Head Record
India and Netherlands have locked horns against one another twice in ODIs. Both times, the Asian Giants ended up drubbing their forthcoming opposition. Their first ODI meeting was during the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup where Sourav Ganguly’s troops eclipsed them in Boland Park.
Yuvraj Singh was named the Player of the Match in the 2011 WC clash against the Netherlands
After eight years, the two sides once again met and India emerged on top in Delhi with Wesley Barresi and Virat Kohli the only two surviving players from the 22 cricketers that took the field 12 years ago.
Key Players
Mohammad Shami (India): The Bengal bowling sensation has been a force to reckon with the ball in hand for India. He has snapped 16 wickets from only four matches so far claiming two fifers against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, followed by a four-wicket haul against England.
The addition of Shami in the Indian playing XI has made the bowling department look ruthless. He has the ability to pick wickets across various phases of the game and is an asset for the Men in Blue with his beautiful seam positioning.
Bas de Leede (Netherlands): The Netherlands all-rounder has the knack of putting a valiant performance in big matches or against high-ranked teams. He has scalped 14 wickets and scored 127 runs from 7 matches.
He scored a half-century against Pakistan earlier and will be looking to contribute against the other Asian Giants. De Leede is also an effective option with his medium-pace bowling.
Predicted XIs
India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma ©, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna
Netherlands: Wesley Barresi, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards © (wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekren
Prediction
India is the clear favorite to win this game. Netherlands would be looking to end things off with pride and do their best to finish within the top seven but the Men in Blue could be too tough for them to handle.