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Pringle and Co stifle Nepal as Netherlands open their account
Tim Pringle and Logan van Beek’s three-wicket hauls backed up by Max O’Dowd’s patient half-century got Netherlands over the line in a nervy chase in their opening game of the T20 World Cup 2024, against a spirited Nepal in Dallas.
It was a rude welcome for Nepal in their first T20 World Cup in a decade, with the Netherlands bowlers putting up a fine show and bowling them out for a mere 106 in 19.2 overs. But Nepal weren’t done yet. They squeezed the Netherlands batters in the middle overs and took the chase into the 19th over. O’Dowd, however, held his own with an unbeaten 54. He rode his luck and made sure to take his side over the line by six wickets and eight balls to spare.
Early-morning rain and overcast conditions delayed the toss by 30 minutes and Netherlands captain Scott Edwards had no hesitations in bowling after winning the toss. The bowlers backed up their captain’s decision with Pringle, van Beek, Paul van Meekeren and Bas de Leede all getting among the wickets.
In reply, Nepal put up a fight but dropped a couple of crucial chances at key intervals.
The Grand Prairie Stadium can seat 7000 but the vocal Nepal fans made it feel a lot bigger, flocking in nice and early getting behind their team. But the overcast conditions assisted the Netherlands seamers and they got their first wicket through left-arm spinner Pringle, whose decision to keep giving the ball flight paid off as Aasif Sheikh’s thick outside edge found short third in the second over. Pacer van Beek then struck with his first ball, angling a length ball sharply back into Kushal Bhurtel and catching him plumb in front.
Fast bowler Vivian Kingma also found big movement as the Nepal batters found putting bat to ball an arduous task. In the first six overs, Nepal played and missed 17 of the 36 balls (47.22%), which is the highest for any team in a men’s T20I (for which ESPNcricinfo has ball-by-ball data available). They hit five fours but could only manage three singles and a two in the first six overs, as Nepal managed only 29 runs in the powerplay for the loss of two wickets.
Rohit Paudel, the youngest captain at a T20 World Cup at 21, kept his composure but lost partners at a steady rate. He pumped Kingma for a four over covers in the seventh over, but Pringle came back in his second over to remove Anil Sah, his attempted sweep only going as far as deep backward square leg. Kushal Malla hammered van Meekeren for a four over mid-off but fell three balls later trying a repeat of that shot, deceived by the slower offcutter and spooning the ball straight up.
Bas de Leede then got rid of Dipendra Singh Airee caught at slip as Nepal slipped to 53 for 5 after 11 overs. Paudel was busy during his 35 off 37 but ultimately perished giving Pringle his third wicket. Karan KC and Gulsan Jha added 22 off 17 balls for the eighth wicket – the second-highest stand of the innings – to push the score past 100. Van Beek ended the innings with a two-in-two.
Early wickets was the need of the hour, and Nepal managed that with Sompal Kami getting rid of Michael Levitt with his second ball, caught by the cover fielder. Both Kami and Karan kept the bowling tight conceding only four runs in the first 15 balls. Vikramjit Singh broke the shackles with two back-to-back fours but run-scoring remained slow. Nepal bowled 19 dot balls in the powerplay as Netherlands reached 36 for 1 after the first six.
It was going to get tougher for Netherlands in the middle overs, with the spinners coming into the equation. Airee conceded just a single in his first over after the powerplay, before taking out Vikramjit with a length ball that beat the batter’s attempted slog sweep and caught him in front. An over earlier Vikramjit was dropped at deep backward square leg by Kami, but he couldn’t cash in.
O’Dowd and Sybrand Engelbrecht tried to steady to ship in a 28-run stand before a run out brought about the latter’s end. O’Dowd struck a straight drive back at Kami, who expertly deflected the ball back onto the non-striker’s stumps and caught Engelbrecht short. Nepal conceded just 48 runs in the middle overs (6 to 15) making Netherlands fight for every run.
When Edwards fell cheaply, it felt Netherlands’ chase could go astray, but O’Dowd brought all his experience into play. He curbed his natural aggressive instincts and made sure he kept his end secure even when Netherlands went 40 balls without a boundary between the 12th and 18th overs. O’Dowd had a huge slice of luck when Paudel spilled a straightforward chance in the 18th over at long-off. He was on 40 at the time and Netherlands still needed 18 off 17, but the dropped chance seemed to ease his nerves. In the penultimate over, with Netherlands requiring 13 off 12, he smashed Abinash Bohara for a four and six to reach his 13th T20I fifty. De Leede then finished the chase with a four through covers, triggering a sigh of relief in the Netherlands camp and securing two crucial points.
Brief scores:
Netherlands 109 for 4 in 19.4 overs (Max O’Dowd 54*, Vikramjit Singh 22; Sompal Kami 1-18, Dipendra Singh Airee 1-6, Abinash Bohar 1-29) beat Nepal 106 in 19.2 overs (Rohit Paudel 35; Tim Pringle 3-20, Logan Van Beek 3-18, Paul Van Meekeren 2-19, Bas de Leede 2-22) by six wickets
[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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