SATV 17 June, Kathmandu: The Nepali National Men’s Cricket team were beaten in a historic third super over by the Netherlands in the second match of the Tri-Nation T20 tournament held at Titwood, Glasgow. 

Inviting the Netherlands to bat after winning the toss, Nepal restricted the European team to 152 runs at the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Nepal’s spin-bowl maestro Sandeep Lamichhane claimed three wickets in his four overs, conceding mere 18 runs. Nandan Yadav took two wickets while Lalit Rajbanshi and Kushal Bhurtel took one wicket apiece. 

For the Netherlands, Teja Nidamanuru scored the highest of 35 runs off 37 balls with the help of a lone six. Vikramjit Singh scored 30 runs off 29 balls with two sixes, Saqib Zulfiqar scored a quickfire 25 runs off 12 runs with a four and two sixes while opening batsman Michael Levitt 20 runs off 16 balls.

Trailing the Netherlands’ target of 153 runs, Nepal registered a slow start with the early dismissals of Lokesh Bam and Anil Sah. Opener Kushal Bhurtel, however, endured and scored 34 runs off 23 balls with five fours. Captain Rohit Paudel played a poised inning spanning 8 overs, scoring 48 runs off 35 balls including three fours and two sixes. Nandan Yadav scored 12 runs in four balls in the final over, scoring a four in the final ball, to take the match to super over.

For the Dutch bowling attack, Daniel Doram claimed three wickets in his four overs at a miserly economy of 3.5 runs per over. Vikramjit Singh took two wickets while Kyle Klein, T20I debutant Ben Fletcher and Zach Lion-Cachet took one wicket each.

In the first super over, Nepal set a target of 20 runs for the Netherlands with Kushal Bhurtel hitting two sixes and a four. In return, the Dutch batsman Max O’Dowd scored a six and a four and Michael Levitt hit a six to take the game to a second super over.

In the second super over, the Netherlands scored 17 runs at the loss of a wicket with O’Dowd and Scott Edwards scoring a six each. In return, Paudel hit a six and Dipendra Singh Airee scored a six and a four to take the game to a historic third super over. 

In the final super over, Nepal failed to register a single run as both Paudel and T20 debutant Rupesh Singh fell victim to Dutch bowler Lion-Cachet. Levitt scored a six in the very first ball of the over to win the game for the Netherlands.