Netherlands vs Afghanistan highlights, Cricket World Cup 2023: Shahidi, Rahmat shine as AFG beat NED by 7 wickets

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: NED- Wesley Barresi, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards(w/c), Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren

AFG- Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: After winning the toss, Dutch captain Edwards said, "We'll bat first. It has worked well for us. The wicket looks decent. Hopefully put on the runs and defend it. We have made one change. That's something we've spoken about, our top-order needs to make more runs. We've got Barresi coming up to the top and Vikramjit is missing out. We are still fighting for the spot in the semi-final. We have to play a lot of good cricket. As a group, that (CT) is not something we are focusing on. That comes with potentially playing food cricket."

Meanwhile, Afghan skipper Shahidi said, "We wanted to bat, but that doesn't matter. We need to play 100 overs of good cricket. It'll spin. We are trying to play good cricket. We are going with four spinners. Noor Ahmad is in for Naveen."

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Netherlands captain Edwards wins the toss and opts to bat!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Opting to bat would be a better decision for whoever wins the toss as the ball has been offered a lot under lights in Lucknow, even there hasn't been dew. Both teams have also shown that they can chase.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: The Afghans have solved many of their issues in this campaign. They were overly reliant on their top order. Now even their middle order has been performing well as Shahidi and Omarzai have proved it. Meanwhile, Farooqi took four wickets vs Sri Lanka and their spin attack is among the best!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Toss is coming up folks and is scheduled for 1:30 PM IST. Stay tuned folks as this could turn out to be a thriller. Both sides will be aiming to challenge for a position in the top-four.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Omarzai had a poor 2022, having only 35 runs in four ODI innings at 11.66 at the end of that year. But he staged a massive turnaround this year, with 305 runs in 12 ODIs, and smacking three half-centuries in the process at an average of 43.57. He is also his side's fifth highest run-scorer in the 2023 World Cup, with 203 runs at 50.75. With his medium pace, he has scalped five wickets at 39.80 and his variations has proved beneficial in the middle overs!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Focus will be on Aryan Dutt, who has bowled the first over for Netherlands in ever game so far. The offspinner has been economical in the powerplay and no other bowler has got more maiden than his seven. He will be high on confidence and got 1/26 vs Bangladesh previously!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Out of all the venues at the World Cup this year, Lucknow's average runs per wicket (28.32) for pace and spin combined is the second-lowest after Kolkata's 24.81. Pace have found more success here, taking 39 wickets, compared to 23 for spin.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Dutch star Ackermann admitted on Monday that his team was unaware of Champions Trophy qualification criteria before the ODI World Cup. The Champions Trophy is scheduled for 2025 and its qualification depends on the group stage finish. Pakistan automatically qualify as hosts, and seven highest-finishing teams at the ongoing tournament will also be part of the event. The Dutch are currently eighth with three games remaining. They will look climb up the table.

"No, we didn't know about it before the tournament. I don't think any teams knew about it before we started. But we are here at a World Cup, we're not playing the Champions Trophy. We first need to compete at this tournament before we look at the Champions Trophy," Ackermann said.

"The focus is semifinal for us. We know that if we win our next three games, we'll make the semifinal. That is our focus at this stage. We're not interested in what's happening in two years' time. We've got a game to win tomorrow," he further added.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: In their previous match, Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets, and it was star spinner Rashid who gave an inspiring speech to his teammates, urging them to fight for everything in the match. In a video shared by ICC, he could be seen telling his teammates, "Remember these three things. Firstly, every ball we fight, if it's our batting, if it's our bowling or if it's our fielding. Our only focus should be to fight it out with the other team. Don't think about the outcome or whether we will win or not focus on the finer details instead and these finer details will paint the bigger picture. Fight for every ball."

Pointing out their fan-base back home, Rashid continued, "Even if I come out to bowl later on no matter how wet the ball is I will put in my 100% effort for the team because if I think that the ball is too wet. I won't be able to bowl well and automatically, I will concede runs because mentally, I would probably give up. So whether we ball first or second in every moment we will trust ourselves and will put in 100% effort. Thousands pray for us and watch our matches only to see Afghanistan win and triumph because cricket is the only thing that brings joy and happiness in Afghanistan."

"So as a team we shouldn't take the pressure, we only focus on the effort. Everyone wants to see that effort not just the result but a real honest effort. So as a team, we will get in and put in the effort and we also make sure of the biggest thing that we keep smiling Go on boys," he further added.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: The Dutch top order has been abysmal in this campaign, scoring the least runs among all teams, 582 at an average of 19.40 with a combined strike rate of 71.14. They collapsed at 91/6 vs Sri Lanka and were bowled out for 90 by Australia. For their wins vs South Africa and Bangladesh, they were dependent on their middle order, especially skipper Edwards, who came to their rescue. They will need to improve their batting performance today, if they want to add more drama to this interesting top-four race!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: This is the fifth and final game in Lucknow for the 2023 World Cup. In the opening game, South Africa posted 311 vs Australia, and also succesfully defended it. But usually, the first innings has been middling throughout the tournament with the pitches offering more to the bowlers. In the previous game, India defended 229 vs England, courtesy of their pacers. The Dutch have played here before, against Sri Lanka, who chased down 263 with 1.2 overs to spare. The afternoon temperature today is expected to be around 30-31 degrees Celsius.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Gurbaz took over the wicketkeeping duties in the previous fixture for Afghanistan, after Alikhil hurt his little finger on the right hand, while trying to grab a ball. According to AFG head coach Trott, he is fit to play again!

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd, Wesley Barresi, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards(w/c), Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren, Saqib Zulfiqar, Teja Nidamanuru, Ryan Klein, Roelof van der Merwe

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Rahman, Najibullah Zadran

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Live Score, NED vs AFG Cricket World Cup 2023: Hello and good morning everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today's 2023 World Cup match between Netherlands and Afghanistan, straight from Lucknow! Stay tuned folks for an exciting thriller!