By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu (Hamro Khelkud) – Nepal have suffered a second successive defeat against the Netherlands in the T20I tri-series ongoing in Kathmandu. Nepal lost by a slender margin of two runs to get their second defeat in as many matches in the series. Chasing 185 runs in 20 overs, Nepal could only get to 182 at the loss of eight wickets.
Nepal required 48 runs off the final three overs. The 18th and 19th overs bowled by Aryan Dutt and Tim van der Gugten went for 18 and 15 runs respectively. Requiring 15 off the final over, Dipendra Singh Airee hit a four and a six in the first two deliveries. In the next delivery, Gulshan Jha got run out while taking a double.
Dipendra was bowled by Roelof van der Merwe in the fourth delivery, Pratis GC, who had the task of getting the team over the line with four required off two balls, couldn’t score in the fifth and only managed to get one run in the final delivery.
Dipendra was the top scorer for Nepal with a 34-ball 63 that included six fours and three sixes. Skipper Rohit Paudel also reached a half-century in and got out for 50 in 26 deliveries with six fours and two sixes.
Aasif Sheikh got out for 34 off 23 with four boundaries and a six. Karan KC and Kushal Malla made 11 runs each while Sundeep Jora managed to get eight runs. Opener Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for a second successive duck alongside Sompal Kami who also couldn’t trouble the scorers.
Roelof van der Merwe and Sybrand Engelbrecht took two wickets each for the Dutch side while Vivian Kingma, Tim van der Gugten and Aryan Dutt picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Netherlands posted a total of 184 runs at the loss of just four wickets in 20 overs. Opener Michael Levitt scored a 36-ball 54 with five fours and three sixes while Sybrand Engelbrecht remained unbeaten on 49 from 38. Skipper Scott Edwards made a quickfire 16-ball 33 while Teja Nidamanuru got to 31 from 24 before being run out. Opener Max O’Down made a contribution of just four runs to the total.
Kushal Malla and Karan KC, who picked up one wicket each, were the only bowlers to have given breakthroughs to Nepal.
Netherlands will take on Namibia in the next match of the series on Thursday while Nepal’s next encounter will also be against the Namibians the day after,
