Bas De Leede hogged the limelight with his stupendous performance with both the bat and the ball against Pakistan in Match 2 of the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup 2023. He starred against the dominant Pakistanis and has etched his name in the deepest recesses of cricket lovers, watching the coveted World Cup.
Bowling for Netherlands in the 1st innings, Bas De Leede rocked the Pakistani batting lineup, by picking up 4 wickets. His bowling was crucial as Netherlands restricted Pakistan to 286 runs, thereby not letting them cross the 300-mark.
Leede then contributed richly with the bat in the 2nd innings as he stitched up a quality knock of 67 runs in 68 runs. Somehow, he failed to garner support from the other batters except Vikramjit Singh and eventually Netherlands couldn’t surpass Pakistan’s total.
In this article, we take a look at 3 reasons why Bas De Leede can perform well in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023:
1. Bas De Leede’s maturity
Despite being only 23-years-old, Bas De Leede displayed shades of maturity during his knock of 67 runs in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 match versus Pakistan. He didn’t shy away from using his feet and coming down the ground versus spinners.
Post a boundary, he decided to not fall into the trap of greed and played defensive shots. This highlights his maturity levels and this is a silver lining for the Netherlands team, as they go on a quest to perform well in the ongoing World Cup.
2. His ability to deliver the goods with both the bat and the ball
Bas De Leede can contribute with both the bat and the ball and that is his USP. He bagged 4 wickets against Babar Azam’s Pakistan and his wickets were Muhammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Hassan Ali.
He then scored 67 runs and seemed to be the only ray of hope for Netherlands after southpaw opener Vikramjit Singh was dismissed. We believe that Bas De Leede can have a good World Cup sojourn in 2023 as he has the potential to play exceedingly well with both the bat and the ball.
3. Presence of a towering figure in the form of his father in his life
Bas De Leede’s father is a former Netherlands batting all-rounder. Tim De Leede, his father, represented Netherlands in 3 ICC ODI World Cups and has the experience, which he can pass it on to his son.
Not a lot of cricketers at the moment have the privilege of having a successful cricketer in their household and Bas De Leede should use his father’s advice while he represents the Dutch.
An interesting fact of Tim De Leede is that, like his son, he had bagged 4 wickets in Netherland’s opening game in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 versus India. He had bagged the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.
