Preview: Netherlands look to continue tournament dominance over UAE

The Group A pair will take to the field at Kardinia Park in Geelong after the tournament opener at the same ground between Sri Lanka and Namibia.

Overview

The UAE will be hoping to deliver a memorable performance as they gear up for only their second appearance in the history of the T20 World Cup. 2014 was the last time they qualified for the mega event and they will be looking to make up for their absence in the last two editions with some eye-catching performances in Australia.

Sparks are expected to fly when CP Rizwan and his men face Scott Edwards' Netherlands in their first match of the competition. The two sides have met eight times in T20 internationals previously, with each team winning an equal number of matches. The Dutch, however, have a better record when it comes to ICC tournaments. Three of their four wins over the UAE have come in either Qualifiers or the World Cup.

UAE T20WC team preview

But the UAE can take heart from their spirited performance against West Indies in the warm-up encounter. Even though they lost the match, Junaid Siddique and Muhammad Waseem delivered stellar performances. Siddique claimed a five-for while Waseem scored an unbeaten 69 to keep his team in the chase. They lost by 17 runs in the end but it was an excellent performance against a side that is considered to be superior in terms of experience and quality.

Netherlands T20WC team preview

Netherlands also lost their warm-up match but they faced Scotland, a side on par with their quality and experience. Their bowlers did a good job to restrict Scotland to 151/7, with Brandon Glover and Bas de Leede picking up three wickets each. But the batting unit failed miserably as there was hardly anyone other than Max O'Dowd who troubled the Scotland bowling attack.

The Dutch had a disappointing outing in the last edition as well. They bowed out from the tournament in the group stage itself as they lost all of their three matches. Edwards will be expecting a much better performance from his side this time but the batting needs to step up.

Key Players

Zahoor Khan: He is the UAE's key player with the ball. Khan has played 34 T20Is so far and has claimed 41 wickets while maintaining an excellent economy rate of 6.88. The right-arm pacer bowls in all phases for his team and is their go-to bowler whenever they need breakthroughs. He bowled a brilliant spell of 4-024-2 in the warm-up match against West Indies, which includes the key wickets of Shamarh Brooks and Nicholas Pooran.

Bas de Leede: The 22-year-old all-rounder took some time to reach his full potential but now that he has arrived, it will be quite hard to stop him. De Leede has been in sensational all-round form this year having amassed 289 runs at a sensational average of 72.25 in T20 internationals, while also claiming 10 wickets at 10.70 runs per piece. Although he couldn't do well with the bat in the warm-up match against West Indies, De Leede still bowled a brilliant spell of 4-0-20-3.

Predicted Playing XIs

Netherlands: Stephan Myburgh, Max ODowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Tom Cooper, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten, Shariz Ahmad, Fred Klaassen, Brandon Glover

**UAE:**Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Aryan Lakra, Vriitya Aravind (wk), Chundangapoyil Rizwan (c), Basil Hameed, Aayan Afzal Khan, Zawar Farid, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan

Dream11 Fantasy Picks

Captaincy Pick: Bas de Leede

Bas de Leede is entering the tournament on the back of excellent form. He scalped three wickets during the recent warm-up fixture against Scotland. In the last five matches, he has scored two half-centuries and picked up nine wickets in total.

Must-have: Vriitya Aravind

The 20-year-old has already become a rising star for UAE and is one of their most dependable batters. He has played 13 T20Is this year, scoring 407 runs at a whacking strike rate of over 140. He also has three half-centuries so far in 2022.

Differential Pick: Chirag Suri

Chirag Suri’s strike rate of 118.23 is a bit too conservative in this format which often puts pressure on the remainder of the batting unit. However, he has plenty of experience and has amassed 791 runs in 29 matches at an average of over 30.