The second match of the ICC Cricket World Cup sees the tournament heading to Hyderabad for the clash between Pakistan and the Netherlands as two more teams get their competition up and running on Friday.
Pakistan are touted as title contenders in this tournament whereas just being here is a fantastic achievement for the Netherlands and now they will be looking to take a scalp down with them now they are here.
Pakistan
It wouldn’t be Pakistan if they didn’t go into a tournament without a point to prove and after a disappointing Asia Cup that is exactly the position they are in here. I don’t think they will be surprised that already so much is going against them. Their visas for the tournament arrived late so they haven’t had as long in India to acclimatise as some of the other teams and their supporters are waiting for their visas so there won’t be much support for Pakistan inside the grounds.
The one thing Pakistan do have is a decent squad although they do have a couple of key players in Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan who are out of form so it would be handy for their long-term prospects in the competition if they ca n find some confidence against a weaker opponent. The overriding thing for Pakistan though is to win the game. Points dropped to the Netherlands will be points dropped to the field.
Netherlands
The Netherlands came through the qualifying tournament to make it into this event so they know how to win pressurised ODI matches which might be a boost to their confidence heading into this match. The beauty of this event for the Netherlands is that there is no expectation on them whatsoever so this is a huge stage for their team to showcase their talents and look to take a few scalps down with them.
If the Netherlands are going to have any success in this tournament be it match wins or anything else, you would imagine it will be their batting which delivers it. It is much the stronger for them even allowing for the fact that they have a couple of extra players from county cricket available to them in this tournament. One issue for the Dutch will be that their warm-up matches were rain affected so they could be a little underprepared.
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Team News
Mohammad Wasim was seen training fully in the lead up to this match but it does appear as though Hasan Ali will get the nod in his place. Mohammad Nawaz is likely to keep Usama Mir out of the starting XI for this one.
Colin Ackermann is around for this tournament for the Netherlands as is Roelof van der Merwe and they will be important should the pitches turn. If they don’t the Dutch will rely on Logan van Beek and Paul van Meekeren to lead the attack.
Betting
I always think that class acts will their boots against the lesser sides in these tournaments and that is exactly what I think Babar Azam will do here. Pakistan went to the Netherlands for an ODI series last year and Babar played in all three matches, scoring 74, 57 and 91 and I expect him to score well here too. Pakistan played a couple of warm up matches on this ground against New Zealand and Australia and the captain scored 80 and 90 in those games.
He has a run line here of 43.5 and usually the only concern would be whether the minnows get shot out for a paltry total that there aren’t enough runs but Babar will bat at three and Fakhar Zaman is so out of form that I would be surprised if that scenario presents itself, not least because the Netherlands are decent enough with the bat. Babar might not be the quickest scorer but he is fluent against the Netherlands. He averages 58 in this format of the game so requiring 14 less than his average will do me.
Tips
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