The Netherlands come up against Afghanistan in today’s International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 match at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow. The Dutch side have an added motivation of trying to finish among the top eight teams on the points table to be able to qualify for the Champions Trophy 2025.
They were not aware of a recent rule change by the ICC which made it possible for lower-ranked teams to participate in the tournament. They will be looking to finish their campaign on a high and winning against Afghanistan today will surely be the objective, even as technically they do not have a chance to progress in this tournament.
On the other hand, Afghanistan will be going all out in their bid to create history by entering the top four and qualifying for the semi-finals. They currently stand sixth and have had their fair share of glory in the tournament already picking up huge wins against strong opponents.
Winning this match will be even more important for the Afghans as they will have to face Australia and South Africa in their last two matches after this. They know that winning today will put them level on points with Australia and New Zealand who are third and fourth on the points table, respectively.
Head To Head:
The Netherlands and Afghanistan have played each other on nine occasions in the One Day International (ODI) format of which Afghanistan won seven times and the Netherlands picked up two wins. Afghanistan won the last ODI series 3-0 between them in Qatar’s Doha.
Pitch Report:
The Lucknow pitch has a history of favouring spinners and slower bowlers which results in low-scoring games. However, the pitches made from black soil for the World Cup have favored batters as well.
The Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow has witnessed eight ODIs so far with both the teams batting first and second sharing similar success, winning on four occasions.
Weather Forecast:
The forecast in Lucknow points towards early morning showers. However, later in the day, there is no chance of rainfall, according to Weather.com. The temperatures are expected to go as high as 31 degrees when the match starts. As the match progresses, it will come down to 22 degrees during the late evening. Humidity is predicted to be around 58 per cent.
Match Prediction:
According to Google’s win probability, Afghanistan have a 74 per cent chance of winning the match, while the Netherlands have 26 per cent chance.
CricTracker predicted that whoever batted first, Afghanistan will pick up their fourth win of the tournament. MyKhel also predicts an Afghan win. Afghanistan is expected to win the match comfortably, considering the performances they have put forward in the tournament recently, however, the Netherlands are no push-over having tasted their fair share of giant-kill in the World Cup.
