The Netherlands had their most memorable achievement of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 beating South Africa by 38 runs even as they still remain an Associate Member of the global cricketing body. On Saturday, they come up against a Bangladesh side also looking for their second win of the tournament.
Saturday’s World Cup match featuring the two teams is set to take place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata from 2 pm onwards. This will again be a battle of the lower-half with Bangladesh eyeing a win to push for the coveted fourth spot. The Netherlands on the other hand will look to ruin the party and pick up their second win of the tournament.
While the Dutch team are rock-bottom of the points table, Bangladesh are on eighth ahead of England by virtue of a better net run rate (NRR).
Head To Head:
Only two One Day International (ODI) matches have ever taken place between Bangladesh and the Netherlands with the bragging rights split equally with one win each. In the 2011 edition of the World Cup, Bangladesh had defeated the Dutchmen by six wickets. That same year, the Netherlands had played the Tigers, defeating them by six wickets. Since the 2011 World Cup, the two teams have not faced each other.
Pitch Report:
The pitch at the Eden Gardens has been a batting-friendly one with the last 31 ODIs played at the venue pointing to it. The middle overs are likely to see the spinners enjoying an edge. The Kolkata pitch, which is made of black cotton soil, starts off bouncy and slows down as the game progresses which favour spinners.
Teams batting first have won 17 of the 31 ODIs played at the Eden Gardens with 12 wins going to teams batting second. There have been two matches that did not yield any results. The toss winning skipper is expected to chose to bat first.
Weather Forecast:
The temperatures in Kolkata will be around 31 degrees as the match kicks off at around 2 pm and will start to cool down during the evening after sunset. Weather.com has highlighted a little chance of rain with humidity at a high of 71 per cent.
Match Prediction:
Google’s win probability has given Bangladesh a 71 per cent chance of winning the match with the Netherlands getting 29 per cent chance. CricTracker has bet on a win for Bangladesh, no matter who bats first. With Shakib Al Hasan returning to action, MyKhel is also edging towards a Bangladesh win. An exciting encounter awaits, nonetheless.
