Netherlands start T20 World Cup campaign with six-wicket win over Nepal

The Netherlands began their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign with a six-wicket win over Nepal at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Tuesday.

With the win, the Netherlands joined South Africa with two points on top of Group D.

The Dutchmen chased the target in the 19th over on the back of Max O'Dowd's unbeaten 54 off 48 balls.

Scott Edwards and his team struggled against the Nepalese bowlers, but O'Dowd remained steadfast at one end. Vikramjit Singh also made a significant contribution, scoring 22 runs off 28 balls.

Sompal Kami, Abinash Bohara, and Dipendra Singh Airee each took a wicket for Nepal.

Pacer Logan van Beek and skipper Tim Pringle both took three wickets each to lead their team to victory.

Nepal had a rough start with wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh getting dismissed by Pringle. Kushal Bhurtel could hit just 7 runs off 10 balls.

Anil Sah added 11 runs from 12 balls before being caught by van Beek off Pringle's bowling. Captain Rohit Paudel scored 35 runs from 37 balls before being removed by Pringle.

Gulsan Jha contributed 14 runs, while Karan KC hit a quick 17 runs from 12 balls, including two sixes.

Pringle was the highlight of the Netherlands bowling lineup with figures of 3/20 in his four-over spell. Van Beek also took 3/18. Paul van Meekeren also performed well, taking 2 wickets for 19 runs in his four overs, and Bas de Leede chipped in with 2 wickets for 22 runs.

Playing XIs

Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Anil Sah, Kushal Malla, Rohit Paudel (capt), Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sagar Dhakal, Abinash Bohara

Netherlands: Max O'Dowd, Michael Levitt, Vikramjit Singh, Scott Edwards (capt and wk), Teja Nidamanuru, Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma

This is the second game of Group D. South Africa defeated Sri Lanka in the first game in New York by six wickets.