Nepal loses to Netherlands in Women's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifiers
What you should know
The Netherlands have reached the Super Six of the Women's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifiers. Putting aside the courage of Rubina Chhetri and Sita Rana Magar, the Netherlands defeated Nepal by 2 runs on Thursday to advance to the next round. This is the Dutch team's third consecutive win in the competition.
Batting after winning the toss, the Netherlands scored 140 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur. In reply, Nepal could only score 138 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Needing 13 runs to win in the last over, Rubina hit a boundary on the last ball of the innings, but Nepal could only score 11 runs. If she had hit a six on the last ball, the score would have been level.
Rubina scored an unbeaten 37 runs off 32 balls. In the process, she became the second player from Nepal to score 1,000 runs in women's Twenty20 International cricket. Earlier, captain Indu Verma had completed 1,000 runs for Nepal. Rubina hit 5 boundaries during her innings.
'It is unfortunate that we could not win the game, but bringing the game to this point from that situation is also the basis for the upcoming game,' Rubina said after the game, 'It was necessary to have a good partnership in the middle order, there was no need to rush. But that's where we ended up losing a lot of wickets. Our wicket is flat, 8-10 runs per over would have been scored.'
Rubina and Sita brought Nepal closer to victory by sharing 45 runs in the last 22 balls. Sita remained unbeaten with 27 runs in 12 balls. She hit 4 fours and 1 six. This is Nepal's second consecutive defeat. This has made Nepal's chances of reaching the Super Six difficult.
Earlier, the opening duo of Bindu Rawal and Samjhana Khadka had given Nepal a good start. But it was unfortunate for Nepal that Bindu was run out for 18 runs. Bindu hit 4 fours in 15 balls. Samjhana scored 14 runs with 3 fours in 8 balls. Nepal was under pressure after Pooja Mahato was dismissed for 8, Indu Burma for 6 and Kajol Shrestha for 4 runs. Kavita Joshi was dismissed for 13 runs. She hit 2 fours in 18 balls. Kavita Kunwar was dismissed for 1 run.
Nepal also had a great start in bowling. Somu Bista dismissed opener Phebe Molkenboer for a duck. Another opener, Heather Sigers, scored 13 runs in 5 balls, including 3 fours, before being dismissed by Pooja.
Despite losing both openers in the first two overs, captain Babette de Lied and Stéré Kallis put on a 79-run partnership for the third wicket. Riya Sharma broke the partnership by bowling Kallis. Kallis, who has been performing very well on Nepali soil, scored 30 runs in 34 balls, including 2 fours. De Lied added 49 runs.
Cut and bowled by Rubina, she hit 7 fours in 47 balls. Rubina dismissed Frederik Overdijk for 5 runs. Rubina took 2 wickets in 3 overs, costing 21 runs. Robin Rijcke remained unbeaten on 19 runs off 17 balls with 3 fours and Iris Jewelling remained unbeaten on 14 runs off 9 balls with 2 fours.
Netherlands are at the top of Group ‘B’ with 6 points. In the other match of the same group, Scotland defeated Zimbabwe by 5 wickets. Scotland completed Zimbabwe’s 101 runs in 14 overs. This is Scotland’s first win in two matches. Zimbabwe has lost its third consecutive match.
Bangladesh in Super Six
Bangladesh has reached the Super Six by winning its third consecutive match from Group ‘A’. Bangladesh defeated Namibia by 80 runs in the day’s match held in Kirtipur on Thursday.
Defending Bangladesh scored 144 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. In reply, Namibia was all out for 64 runs in 17.5 overs. In the other match, Ireland defeated the USA by 16 runs. This is Ireland’s second consecutive win.
