5 factors that helped the Netherlands edge Nepal in a low-scoring thriller

Unlucky Vivian Kingma sets the tone

On paper, Vivian Kingma will consider himself highly unlucky for not picking up a single wicket, but his contribution to the Dutch win was as great as that of the other bowlers.

33.3% of his deliveries on the day beat the bat, with a false shot percentage of 58.3%. Kingma set the tone for the Netherlands, bowling wide outside off-stump which worked well.  

Rohit Paudel saves the day for Nepal

At 15/2, Rohit Paudel was under immense pressure to uplift Nepal’s fortunes. With overcast conditions, it was a proper test of the batter’s skills, and that’s exactly where Paudel showed his class, scoring a 37-ball 35 with five boundaries, which was one of the major reasons why Nepal got to 106 in 20 overs. 

Bas de Leede levels Tim van der Gugten

By the time Bas de Leede entered the attack, the match was almost tilted in favour of the Dutch side, at 52/4. De Leede struck early in his spell, removing the dangerous Dipendra Singh Airee before picking up the wicket of Karan KC to round his tally to two wickets.

It was de Leede’s 12th wicket at the death since the 2021 T20 WC, and en route, he levelled Timm van der Gugten’s tally of 15 wickets to become Netherlands’ second-joint highest wicket-taker in T20 World Cups. 

Sompal Kami nearly triggers a comeback

At 71/2, the Dutch were cruising (quite literally) to a win, but then Sompal Kami nearly triggered a collapse, all on his own. In his follow-up, Kami got a touch on the ball, removing the Sybrand Engelbrecht.

71/3 turned to 80/4, and if not for Rohit Paudel’s dropped catch, the match could have gone down the wire. 

Max O’Dowd joins a historic club

Who better than Max O’Dowd to rescue the Dutch when in trouble? 

With wickets falling around him, O’Dowd ensured that there was no collapse, with a 48-ball 54, scoring five boundaries in total. After 12 T20WC innings, O’Dowd joined a prestigious group of Babar Azam and KL Rahul to score the joint second-most fifties. If not for O’Dowd, the Dutch could have been in a lot of trouble.

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