21 October,2023 07:52 AM IST | Lucknow | Santosh Suri
The Netherlands’s skipper Scott Edwards
Can the Netherlands do an encore after their biggest win in the World Cup against South Africa on Tuesday night? Today they will be up against Sri Lanka, who are placed at the bottom of the points table and are the only team without a win going into the fourth round. That should give the Oranges enough confidence to overcome the 1996 champions, who have injuries and poor form afflicting the side. Interestingly, both these teams had played in the final of the World Cup qualifiers and Sri Lanka had got the better of the Dutch side quite easily.
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But Sri Lanka are presently low on morale and barring openers, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera, the other batters have been struggling for form. They are already without their captain Dasun Shanaka and stand-in skipper Kusal Mendis has not been able to bring about a change in fortunes. A turn for the better could begin with Saturday's day game against the Netherlands on a sporting Ekana pitch which has already got rave reviews from the ICC.
However, it's not going to be easy for Sri Lanka, as after their stunning victory over South Africa, the confidence of the Dutch side is pretty high with players like Bas de Leede, Paul de Meekeren and Roelof van der Merwe in top form. It will require injury-ridden Sri Lanka to bring out their A-game to subdue the so-called minnows.
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The Dutch are exuding confidence and their captain Scott Edwards believes that the team have it in them to not only defeat the rivals, but also stand an outside chance of making it to the last four. "After qualifying [for the World Cup], we were pretty quick to set our minds to what we wanted to do at this tournament. We weren't coming here just to have fun and enjoy it. We're here to win games and give ourselves the best chance to make that next stage. From here, if we want to be amongst the semi-finalists, we've got to beat sides like Sri Lanka," he said.
