Preview : Nepal takes on Netherlands with series on stake

By Shashank Timsina | Posted Posted Mar 02, 2024

Nepal are taking on the Netherlands on Saturday at TU International Cricket Ground in the fifth match of the Twenty20 Tri-Nation Series.

Nepal will conclude the group stage fixtures with four points if they beat the Netherlands. If the Netherlands edged Namibia on Sunday, Nepal will comfortably advance to the final. If in case, Namibia defeats the Dutch side, the game will come down to net run rate to decide the finalists.

Nepal might rope in Kushal Bhurtel considering his mouth-watering number against the Dutch side in Twenty20 International, especially in this venue.

Nepal and the Netherlands have come across each other 10 times in the shorter format, with the Dutch side winning on five occasions. Nepal have a chance to level the win with four wins so far, including a no result.

Players to Watch Out For:

Arc All-Rounder Dipendra Singh Airee, skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel, and Karan KC will be the key players. Dipendra has scored 127 runs so far in the series, including a fifty in three innings.

Rohit is averaging 34 in the series with 102 runs in three innings. He has been making other batters play around him. Out of three fifty-plus partnerships so far in the series for Nepal, Rohit has made major contributions in two of them. He was involved in a fifty-plus partnership with Kushal Malla in the first match against Namibia. Following his good form, he added the other fifty-plus stand with Aasif Sheikh against the Netherlands in the second encounter.

Karan KC is the pick-up bowler for Nepal in this series. Karan has picked up four wickets in three matches, and he will have to play an important role in Nepal’s all-important clash against the Netherlands.

Michael Levitt, Sybrand Engelbrecht, and left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe will be key players in the Netherlands camp. Levitt and Engelbrecht are having their dream debut in Nepal.

Levitt has scored 189 runs in 2 innings in the series so far and is the highest run scorer of the event. Similarly, Engelbrecht has scored 124 runs in 2 innings. Both of these batters were involved in a record 193-run partnership for the second wicket against Namibia on Thursday. Levitt also became the second batter to score a century for the Netherlands in T20Is; earlier, Max O�Dowd was the only centurion for the Dutch in T20Is.

Coincidentally, both of these centuries have came at Nepal at the TU International Cricket Ground. Roelof van der Merwe is the most experienced bowler in the Dutch camp. The 39-year-old bowler has taken 59 wickets in 52 innings in the Twenty20 International.