NED vs NEP, T20 World Cup 2024. (Source – Getty Images)
Team Netherlands (NED) showed their utmost composure in their tricky run chase to clinch their opening T20 World Cup 2024 game against the rising Asian side, Nepal (NEP). In what was a rain-marred affair, the toss was delayed by nearly 30 minutes before the game started without losing any overs. The coin fell in the favour of the Dutch skipper Scott Edwards who invited the Nepalese to bat first.
Nepal failed to get going in the first innings
Notably, the Dutch skipper Scott Edwards won the toss and decided to have a go with the ball. The decision was duly justified as the Men in Orange kept bowling tight lines and jolted the Nepalese side by dismissing them at regular intervals. Especially in the powerplay phase they were superb and did not allow the opposition to get off to a flier.
Openers Kushal Bhurtel (7 off 10) and the experienced partner Aasif Sheikh (4 off 8) failed to make a good start as Logan van Beek and Tim Pringle made early inroads. Thereafter, at the halfway stage Nepal were already down with the score reading 53/4 on the board. The only batter who stood his ground and tried to steady the shop was Nepal’s captain Rohit Paudel (35 off 37) who tried to lead from the front with the bat. As a result, the Asian side got folded for a mere 106 runs.
Opener Max O’Dowd starred with the bat for Netherlands
In reply to the run chase, Netherlands too did not have the best of the starts and lost Michael Levitt early on as he got nabbed in the second over as Sompal Kami struck early for Nepal. But it was opener Max O’Dowd who had other plans and played a superb unbeaten half-century (54* off 48) knock to seal the game for the Men in Orange. He stitched a crucial 40-run partnership with batter Vikramjit Singh and then Sybrand Engelbrecht contributed (14 off 16) to bring the Dutch side to the brink of victory. In the end, Bas de Leede struck the winning runs to seal the T20 World Cup 2024 game for Netherlands.
Meanwhile, here is what the Captains of Netherlands vs Nepal T20 World Cup game had to say:
Losing Captain, Rohit Paudel (NEP): “The conditions while batting were really challenging. Netherlands bowled really well. We could have stretched it a little more and had more partnerships through the middle. I was moving laterally and using the crease to upset the bowlers. After the start I got I could have done better. As a bowling unit we did really well. The last catch that I dropped was very well and we didn’t catch well. I want to thank the crowd. It felt like we were playing in Nepal. We are really grateful to them.”
Tim Pringle, POTM – We bowled well as a bowling group, brought the stumps into play and used our variations well. Speeds are crucial in this format, I like to mix as well.
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