By Suneer Chowdhary
Bangladesh go into the game with four points from as many games. The Netherlands match will be followed by one against South Africa and despite having beaten the Proteas in the last World Cup, they will find it difficult to rely on a win there for the quarter-final qualification. A win against the Dutch side will give them hope and then, based on some of the other results, they could go through to the quarters.
Published: Mar 13, 2011, 06:56 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 13, 2011, 06:56 PM (IST)
Bangladesh, World Cup, Netherlands Suneer Chowdhary
By Suneer Chowdhary
Contrasting results to Bangladesh’s last two games resulted in highly contrasting reactions from the emotionally-explosive cricket fans in the country. While the loss to West Indies led to catcalls and stone-throwing, the stunning win against England resulted in the vociferous fans stalling the Bangladesh team by camping and singing outside the hotels till the wee hours of the morning.
This is one reason why when Bangladesh take on Netherlands in the 32nd game of the ICC World Cup 2011 at the ZAC Stadium in Chittagong, the pressure will be on the home side for this must-win game.
Bangladesh go into the game with four points from as many games. The Netherlands match will be followed by one against South Africa and despite having beaten the Proteas in the last World Cup, they will find it difficult to rely on a win there for the quarter-final qualification. A win against the Dutch side will give them hope and then, based on some of the other results, they could go through to the quarters.
Not that things will definitely be very rosy. One, there are definite batting issues with the Bangladeshi side. The top and the middle order, bar that one game against India, has rarely looked in control and that almost came to haunt them in the England game while chasing a modest score.
It is a surprise from Bangladesh’s perspective that their captain Shakib Al Hasan has failed to get going with the bat, scoring 111 runs in the four games. He has had five wickets to his name but the major question is whether the captaincy of a side followed by fanatics as opposed to fans is getting to him.
Fortunately, the Dutch attack has shown to be one of the weaker ones in the group and have 293, 330 and 351 being taken off them in three of the four games that they have bowled in. They were much better against India but one senses that it was much to do with complacency than to do with the Dutch bowling.
Secondly, since this is a day game, there will be no issue with the dew but the early morning moisture could make things much more even if Bangladesh end up batting first. The ground is most definitely a bat-second one and if the Dutch seam bowlers can get the first use of the track, it could end up putting more pressure on Bangladesh.
Netherlands have also batted quite poorly in the tournament after their initial shenanigans against England. With Ryan ten Doeschate refusing to reciprocate that kind of form and none of the other batsmen spending much time at the crease, Bangladesh will be confident of defending whatever their batsmen can get them.
It is a surprise also, that someone like Bas Zuiderent has been persisted with, in the side. His last half-century against a Test-playing side came in the 1996 World Cup and in this edition he has had 17 runs to his name from four games. It may be a case of giving an inexperienced youngster a go in place of Zuiderent, who has clearly had his travails in the bigger league.
Bangladesh (Probable): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain.
Netherlands (Probable): Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Baressi (wk), Tom Cooper, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Peter Borren (c), Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar, Berend Westdijk/Bradley Kruger, Bernand Loots.
Umpires: Shahvir Tarapore (India) and Bruce Oxenford (Australia)
Time: 9.30 hours local (04.00 GMT)
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)
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