Nepal fought hard, but Netherlands won

Netherlands made a successful start to the T20 World Cup by defeating Nepal by 6 wickets.

On Tuesday night, the Netherlands faced Nepal at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. Winning the toss, the Dutch captain opted to bowl first. Losing the toss and being asked to bat, Nepal's batsmen were bowled out before the allotted overs, thanks to the impressive bowling from the Dutch bowlers. Nepal was all out for 106 runs in 19.2 overs, with 4 balls remaining.

Nepal's innings began with the fall of their first wicket at just 10 runs. Both openers were quickly dismissed. In the third wicket partnership, Anil Sah and Rohit Paudel added 25 runs to the scoreboard.

After this partnership was broken, Rohit found no support from the other end. He battled alone till the 16th over, while wickets continued to fall at the other end. The Nepal captain scored 35 runs off 37 balls with 7 fours before being dismissed. Towards the end, Gulshan Jha scored 14 runs off 15 balls, and Karan KC made 17 runs off 12 balls.

Nepal was restricted to 106 runs due to the controlled bowling of the Netherlands bowlers. For the Dutch, Tim Pringle took 3 wickets for 20 runs in 4 overs. Logan van Beek also took 3 wickets. Paul van Meekeren and Bas de Leede took 2 wickets each.

Chasing the small target of 107 runs, Netherlands lost a wicket early when opener Michael Levitt was dismissed. Max O'Dowd, who scored a half-century, and Vikramjit Singh managed the pressure with a second-wicket partnership of 40 runs. This partnership was broken with Vikramjit's dismissal, who scored 22 runs off 28 balls with 4 fours.

O'Dowd then advanced with Saibrand Engelbrecht, adding 28 runs in 29 balls from their partnership. O'Dowd played an innings of 54 runs off 48 balls, including 4 fours and a six. Consequently, the Netherlands reached the victory target with 8 balls to spare.

For Nepal, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dipendra Singh, and Avinash Bohra each took 1 wicket.