T20 World Cup 2024: Nepal suffered a major setback in the very first match, European team gave a crushing defeat

After Nepal's innings was reduced to 106 runs in 19.2 overs, Netherlands scored 109 runs for four wickets in 19.4 overs and got two points from this victory. O'Dowd held one end by hitting four fours and a six in his unbeaten innings of 48 balls. Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee and Avinash Bohra took one wicket each for Nepal. Player of the Match Pringle took three wickets for 20 runs. Van Beek took three wickets for 18 runs. Paul van Meekeren and Bas Dalide got two wickets each.

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Netherlands captain Scott Edwards' decision to bowl first after winning the toss was proved right by his bowlers who kept taking wickets at regular intervals. For Nepal, captain Rohit Paudel scored the highest 35 runs. He hit five fours in his 37-ball innings. In the lower order, Karan KC (17) and Gulshan Jha (14) scored in double digits to take the team's score past 100 runs.

While chasing the target, Netherlands suffered a setback with the dismissal of Michael Levitt (1) in the second over. He became the victim of Sompal. After this, O'Dowd and Vikramjit Singh (22) batted cautiously and took the team's score to 36 runs for one wicket in the powerplay. Dipendra broke the 40-run partnership for the second wicket by dismissing Vikramjit LBW in the ninth over.

O'Dowd then got a good support from Sybrand Engelbrecht (14) who tried to increase the run rate by hitting a four against Gulshan in the 12th over but was run out in the 14th over. Bohra (five) once again put pressure on the Netherlands by dismissing captain Scott Edwards. O'Dowd completed his half-century in 47 balls by hitting a four and a six on consecutive balls against this bowler in the 19th over. In the same over, Dalide hit a four to give the team victory.

Earlier, Tim Pringle dismissed opener Asif Sheikh (four) in the second over of the innings. Van Beek gave Nepal another blow by dismissing Kushal Bhurtel (seven) on his first ball in the fourth over. Captain Paudel and Anil Shah tried to deal with the conditions favorable for fast bowlers, but Pringle ended Shah's innings of 11 runs in 12 balls by getting him caught by Van Beek.

Nepal lost five wickets for 53 runs after Kushal Malla (nine) and Dipendra (one) were out in the 11th over. Meanwhile, Paudel hit two brilliant fours against Van Beek but Mekeran did not give Sompal a chance to open his account. Gulshan hit the first six of Nepal's innings against Pringle in the 16th over but in the same over, Pringle dismissed Paudel and stopped Nepal from making a big score. Karan took Nepal's score past 100 by hitting sixes against Van Beek and Deldey but the team lost the remaining three wickets on the next four balls.

tag: ICC T20 World Cup, T20 World Cup