The Netherlands and Nepal stunned the cricket world by being involved in a dogged fight of a T20I match in the ongoing tri-series in Glasgow, Scotland, as no team was willing to give up and the Dutch eventually prevailed after not one, not two, but three Super Overs on Monday (June 16) evening. Having recently been involved in some cliff-hangers in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, including Scotland, the Netherlands and Nepal, it seems they have made a point not to make it easy for either themselves or anyone.
Nepal would be ruing their opportunity to finish it off in the game proper as at 84/4 needing 69 off the last eight overs, the Asian side would have fancied its chances, especially with skipper Rohit Paudel set in the middle and the likes of Rupesh Singh still to come. It was a balancing act from the Nepal middle and lower order, where they picked and chose which bowlers to attack. E.g., they respected Daniel Doram, who had his tails up taking three wickets and even Zak Lion Cachet but smashed Vikramjit Singh and Kyle Klein in the last two overs.
How did it go to a Super Over in the first place?
Nepal would have liked to accelerate a bit earlier as they were left requiring 31 in the last two overs to win. Rohit Paudel, Karan KC and Nandan Yadav did their best but could only get 15 each off the last two overs, forcing the game into a Super Over. Doram took the ball first up for the Dutch but ended up conceding as many as 19 runs in the over and Nepal were on top.
But the Dutch had an identical response waiting, rather too identical. Michael Levitt and Max O'Dowd also gave Karan KC a taste of his own medicine and they scored 19 runs. The match went into a second Super Over, with a new set of bowlers. Lalit Rajbanshi took the responsibility to take Nepal home but ended up conceding 17 off it.
Nepal batters too scored 17 runs as Dipendra Singh Airee smashed a four and a six to take the game to a first-ever Super Over in any men's professional match - List-A or T20 cricket. Zack Lion Cachet was now entrusted to finish off the proceedings, which had gone on for too long and the off-spinner delivered, dismissing both Paudel and Rupesh Singh without scoring in a span of four balls, leaving just one run for the batters to score and win.
Scotland were too good in the tri-series opener against the Netherlands and hence, however it came, it was important two points for the Dutch. Nepal will now be keen to stay alive in the series and try and beat the hosts, Scotland, in their second game on Tuesday, June 17.