Namibia have been a regular presence at the T20 World Cup since 2021, and despite being relatively new to professional cricket, they have made impressive strides in the format. Their progress includes a famous victory over Sri Lanka in the 2022 edition in Australia. Overall, Namibia have recorded five wins in the tournament and will be eager to begin their 2026 campaign on a positive note against the Netherlands, especially with tournament heavyweights India and Pakistan also in their group. Notably, this marks Namibia’s maiden game on Indian soil, as they had only played warm-up matches before.
The Scott Edwards–led Netherlands, meanwhile, came agonisingly close to pulling off a major upset against Pakistan in their previous outing. A dropped catch by Max O’Dowd in the penultimate over proved costly and ultimately denied them a historic win. The Dutch will be keen to put that disappointment behind them and return to winning ways, as another loss could significantly dent their chances of progressing in the competition.
Netherlands win toss, elect to field
Netherlands have won the toss and elected to field first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Explaining the reason behind the move, Edwards noted that since it’s a morning game, the plan is to make good use of the surface and execute the plans well. The batting is expected to get better as the day progress, with the wicket looks belter.
“We're going to have a bowl first. Early morning, if there's anything in the wicket, it's probably going to be now. We feel like we played a lot of good cricket (against Pakistan), and we probably missed in certain parts of the game. So, for us, it's another opportunity to execute when those moments come. We've got two changes. We've got Fred Klaassen and Timm van der Gugten coming in,” Edwards said after the toss.
Netherlands (Playing XI): Michael Levitt, Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (wk/c), Zach Lion Cachet, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen
Namibia (Playing XI): Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Willem Myburgh, Bernard Scholtz, Max Heingo
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