3 player battles to watch out for in India vs Netherlands match of 2023 World Cup ft. Shubman Gill vs Logan van Beek
India will take on the Netherlands in the final league game of the 2023 World Cup to be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, November 12. Despite having sealed the top spot, the Men in Blue will want to continue their unbeaten run in the tournament.
After an emphatic 243-run over South Africa, India have already had a week's rest and will need to make some key decisions with regard to rotating their players, especially with a crucial semifinal against New Zealand lined up on Wednesday.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, have a lot to play for as they can qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy if they win the game. It would certainly be quite an incentive on the couple of wins that they have already had in this tournament.
On that note, let's take a look at the three match-ups that could decide whether India can stop the Netherlands from qualifying for the Champions Trophy:
#3 Sybrand Engelbrecht vs Kuldeep Yadav
Sybrand Engelbrecht has emerged as one of the most reliable batters for the Netherlands in the 2023 World Cup. With 255 runs from seven games, he is their highest run-scorer so far and is a fulcrum of their middle order at No.4.
This makes his match-up with Kuldeep Yadav an interesting one. Engelbrecht has shown that he is a good player of spin and Kuldeep will want to have a great outing under his belt ahead of the knockout stages. This makes it interesting to look forward to who will end up on top
#2 Shubman Gill vs Logan van Beek
Shubman Gill is coming into the game against the Netherlands as the No.1 ranked ODI batter and has had quite an incredible 2023 in the build-up to the World Cup. While he has scored a fine 92 against Sri Lanka, Gill hasn't quite hit the levels he has already shown earlier this year.
India would really want to see him score big in Bengaluru and take that confidence with him into the knockouts. However, the Dutch will want Logan van Been to strike early with the new ball. He has been impressive for them with 12 wickets already in the tournament and it will be interesting to see how he is able to deal with Gill's brilliance.
#1 Shreyas Iyer vs Paul van Meekeren
A lot has been said already about Indian batter Shreyas Iyer's potential weakness against the short ball and the opposition will continue to test him in that regard. Iyer has been pretty vocal about denying claims of any weakness and that suggests he will take on the short ball ploy if the Dutch use it against him.
Scott Edwards has been tactically brilliant in the World Cup and is likely to use one of his quicker bowlers Paul van Meekeren against Shreyas Iyer. Meekeren can hit those hard lengths and test Iyer's patience. The skiddy nature of his bowling may also cause Iyer problems while taking on the pull shot.