Bengaluru/UNI: In terms of the World Cup, Sundays match between India and Netherlands is listless, but for the fans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the IPL home of Virat Kohli, is going to be exciting as they will be expecting their celebrated son to break his idol Sachin Tendulkars record of scoring the most ODI centuries.
As of now, Kohli is on par with Tendulkars record of scoring 49 centuries, which has been the long-standing record in this format of the game.
The record-breaking century will also be his fifth in the World Cup competitions and third in this tournament alone.
Kohli belted his first century in this tournament against Bangladesh in the run chase which he did never before. He hit an unbeaten 103 in 97 balls in Pune, before notching up half-centuries against Australia and Afghanistan.
This was a well-crafted innings as Kohli brought up his milestone and victory to India with one massive hit over deep mid-wicket into the stands.
Kohli belted his 49th century (101* from 125 balls), equalling Tendulkars, on his 35th birthday against South Africas powerful bowling lineup and helping India amass a massive total of 326/5 at the iconic Eden Gardens.
Kohli received great support from Shreyas Iyer (77) through the middle overs and was in control as India registered yet another win to ensure they finished the group stage on top of the standings.
Kohli, along with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul, would also be keen to help India remain unbeaten in this tournament and head into the knockout stage with full steam when they take on the Netherlands in Silicon Valley of India.
India have won all their 8 matches in this World Cup, and havent looked in trouble against any team. Their bowlers, especially Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have been making headlines, a rarity on Indian pitches.
Jasprit Bumrah has been very effective in getting the breakthroughs early on, and Mohammad Siraj has found his rhythm at the right time, picking up wickets.
Of course, tomorrows encounter looks like a faceoff between David and Goliath with the Netherlands sitting at the bottom of the points table, but they cannot be taken lightly.
The Netherlands outsmarted the powerful South Africa and beat Bangladesh in a very impressive manner, but to beat India all their players have to go all guns blazing, with major contributions from Bas de Leede, Max ODowd, Logan van Beek and skipper Scott Edwards.
The Netherlands too will be eying on booking a spot for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.
Leede would be hoping he could put it all together on the big stage as he has been the Netherlands most effective bowler at the tournament with 14 wickets thus far, but has managed to score just 127 runs with the bat in 8 innings. He would like to make amends in this department.
Squads
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.
Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c), Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Noah Croes, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.
