ICC World Cup, PAK vs NED: Pitch and weather report
Pakistan are up against the Netherlands in Match 2 of the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. The duel will mark the start of both teams' campaigns in the mega event. Needless to mention, the Men in Green will head into the duel as favorites. However, the Dutch side will play an ODI WC match after 2011. Here we present the pitch and weather report.
How does the pitch will behave?
The match will be played at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on October 6 (2:00pm IST). The track here is generally conducive for batting as the bowl comes onto the bat nicely. However, the spinners are expected to get substantial assistance in the middle overs. Owing to the dew factor, the toss-winning skipper is likely to bowl first.
Will rain play a part?
A majority of the warm-up matches were affected by rain. However, the weather gods are not likely to play spoilsport in the upcoming fixture. As per Accuweather, it will be a partly sunny and cloudy day with a maximum temperature of 33°C during the day. It can drop to 25°C at night. Hence, the fast bowlers can get some assistance early on.
Here are the stadium stats
The venue has hosted just seven ODIs with teams batting first winning four times (Average first innings score: 288). 350/4 by Australia versus India in 2009 is the highest recorded team total here. Meanwhile, the lowest total defended here is 290 by Australia against India in 2007. The 2023 WC warm-up games here saw 335-plus scores across all four innings.
Alien to Indian tracks
Notably, none of the players in the Pakistan World Cup squad have ever played an ODI match on Indian soil. The Men in Green also have the opportunity to claim their maiden win in an ODI WC match in India.
A look at the two probable XIs
Pakistan probable XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, and Haris Rauf. Netherlands probable XI: Vikramjit Singh, Max O'Dowd, Wesley Barresi, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (C & WK), Bas de Leede, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Ryan Klein, Paul van Meekeren.
