Dallas. Netherlands defeated Nepal by six wickets in a thrilling low-scoring match of Group D of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Tuesday due to the brilliant performance of the bowlers led by Tim Pringle and Logan van Beek and the restrained batting of Max O’Dowd (54 not out). After bundling out Nepal’s innings for 106 runs in 19.2 overs, Netherlands scored 109 runs for four wickets in 18.4 overs and got two points from this victory. O’Dowd held one end by hitting four fours and a six in his unbeaten innings of 48 balls. Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee and Avinash Bohra took one wicket each for Nepal.
Man of the Match Pringle took three wickets for 20 runs while Van Beek took three wickets for 18 runs. Paul van Meekeren and Bas Dalide got two wickets each. Netherlands captain Scott Edwards’ decision of bowling first after winning the toss was proved right by his bowlers and they kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Captain Rohit Paudel made the highest score of 35 runs from Nepal’s side. He hit five fours in his 37-ball innings. In the lower order, Karan KC (17) and Gulshan Jha (14) scored in double digits and took the team’s score past 100 runs.
While chasing the target, Netherlands suffered a setback with the dismissal of Michael Levitt (1) in the second over. He became the victim of Sompal. O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh (22) then batted cautiously and took the team’s score to 36 runs for one wicket in the powerplay. Dipendra broke the 40-run partnership for the second wicket by trapping Vikramjit LBW in the ninth over. O’Dowd then got a good support from Sybrand Engelbrecht (14) who tried to speed up the run rate by hitting a four against Gulshan in the 12th over but was run out in the 14th over. Bohra once again put pressure on Netherlands by dismissing captain Scott Edward.
O’Dowd completed his half-century in 47 balls by hitting a four and a six on consecutive balls in the 19th over against this bowler. Daliday gave the team victory by hitting a four in the same over. Earlier, Pringle dismissed opener Asif Sheikh (four) in the second over of the innings. Van Beek gave Nepal another blow by trapping Kushal Bhurtel (seven) leg before wicket on his first ball in the fourth over. Captain Paudel and Anil Shah tried to fight the conditions favorable for fast bowlers but Pringle ended Shah’s innings of 11 runs in 12 balls by getting him caught by Van Beek. With the dismissal of Kushal Malla (nine) and Dipendra (one), Nepal lost five wickets for 53 runs in the 11th over.
Meanwhile, Paudel hit two brilliant fours against Van Beek but Meekeren did not allow Sompal to open his account. Gulshan hit the first six of Nepal’s innings in the 16th over against Pringle but in the same over, Pringle dismissed Paudel and stopped Nepal from scoring a big score. Karan hit sixes against Van Beek and Daliday to take Nepal’s score past 100 but the team lost the remaining three wickets in the next four balls.
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