🏏ICC T20I WC 2024, Match 7: Netherlands vs Nepal, @ GPS Dallas🏏

🏏ICC T20I WC 2024, Match 7:Netherlands vs Nepal, @ G P Stadium Dallas🏏

A first turn on the global stage in ten years, Nepal's qualification for this T20 World Cup sparked wild celebrations throughout the country when they bested old foes UAE at Mulpani in the decisive semi-final of the Asia Regional finals last year.

A pinnacle ICC tournament will be a new experience for all but pace spearhead Sompal Kami, the only remaining member of the squad that turned heads at the 2014 edition.

For all the novelty, however, it's a reassuringly familiar opponent that Nepal will be facing first up at Dallas. The young Nepal squad and their legions of fans know the Netherlands well, the two countries regularly exchanging tours in both formats, the Dutch visiting Kathmandu most recently in February this year.

The Netherlands conversely have been World Cup regulars of late, their showing at the 2022 T20 tournament earning them direct qualification here, while their run to the 10-team fifty over World Cup last year has further raised expectations.

Yet as Associate standard-bearers the Dutch know better than anyone not to take their peers lightly, certainly not Nepal in front of what might as well be a home crowd for the Rhinos at Dallas.

The crowds are unlikely to phase the Dutch either, of course, as coach Ryan Cook noted, "We've played in front of the Nepali crowd before.

They are extremely respectful and they support cricket as much as they support their own team. I think that's just such a good thing for the game.

We're looking forward to embracing the crowd that comes tomorrow." Nonetheless the pressure will be on for the men in Orange, whose potential run to the Super 8s (now necessary to avoid relegation to regional qualifying next cycle) could be derailed before it gets rolling.

Tag & Logo Credit: Wildestdreams

Netherlands Playing 11 probables: Michael Levitt, Max O'Dowd, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards(WK)(C), Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma, Aryan Dutt

Nepal Playing 11 probables: Kushal Bhurtel, Asif-Sheikh(WK), Rohit Kumar Paudel(C),Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh-Airee, Sundeep Jora, Gulshan Jha, KC Karan, Sagar Dhakal, Abhinash Bohara, Sompal Kami

Neither team have looked at their best in the lead-in to the tournament. Nepal's worrisome batting woes were on display again in their sole warm-up against Canada, and while the Dutch did get the better of a ramshackle Sri Lanka in Florida, their last competitive outing saw them finish third behind Ireland and Scotland in a home tri-series.

Yet with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both looking eminently beatable, the two Group D Associates may just sense an opportunity at this World Cup to take home a big scalp, and perhaps even push on for higher honours.

For one of the teams the latter prospect will inevitably be dealt a substantial blow in this coming match, but for the victors a flicker of hope may just kindle a fire.

Pitch and conditions

Dallas was where this World Cup got underway, and it got underway with a bang, as USA chased down 195 with 14 balls remaining. Twenty-one sixes were hit in that game, ten coming off the blade of Aaron Jones, who smashed an unbeaten, match-winning 94 off 40 balls. Prepare for more big hitting if the conditions remain similar.

The threat of rain hangs over the match, though, with Dallas experiencing stormy weather in the lead-up, and there's a 20% chance of precipitation forecast for Tuesday.

What to expect: Grand Prairie has looked the best batting deck in the tournament so far, looking a tougher track for bowlers when the USA played Canada last week than the 167 MLC first innings average would suggest.

The ground has seen some heavy weather again since then, but recovered well after the washed-out warm ups. Expect some early help for seamers but for set bats to cash in later on.

Head to Head in T20Is: 6-5

Stats and trivia

• Sompal Kami is the only survivor from Nepal's last appearance at the T20 World Cup in 2014. The seam-bowling allrounder, who was 18 at the time, made his T20I debut in that tournament, picking up 2 for 13 in an 80-run win over Hong Kong
• In the same match where Airee broke the record for fastest T20I fifty, Kushal Malla scored a 34-ball century, which at that time was a T20I record too. That record has since been broken, with Nepal at the receiving end as Namibia's Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton tonked a 34-ball ton against them in February
• Malla (167.24) has the fourth-highest T20I strike rate among all batters with at least 500 runs in the format. Of batters from teams featuring in this tournament, only Suryakumar Yadav (171.55) is ahead of him
• Logan van Beek is playing his fifth T20 World Cup, having previously featured in 2014, 2016, 2021 and 2022.

Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek have picked as the Netherlands' key batter and bowler.

Right-hander Engelbrecht has made an immediate impact since returning to cricket - the South Africa-born player originally retired in 2016 - and joining the Dutch set-up.

After an encouraging 50-over World Cup in India last year, he averages more than 50 at a strike-rate of above 150 in T20s for the Dutch since.

His batting through the middle order will be key to catapulting the Netherlands totals forward.

Right-arm seamer Van Beek has become a real attack leader for the Netherlands over the past few years and has the most wickets of any Dutch bowler in T20s across this World Cup cycle.

He bowls with good pace and can bowl throughout the innings, but he excels at the death with his average down at 15.28 in that phase.

For Nepal, Dipendra Airee has been identified as their key batter, with Abinash Bohara key with the ball.

While Rohit Paudel takes the bulk of responsibility at the top of the order, Dipendra Airee takes control in the final overs.

With over 500 runs since the last World Cup at an astonishing strike-rate of 191, Airee is a powerful and aggressive batter.

The only batter in the world over recent years to go past his strike-rate is Australia's Glenn Maxwell, which is not bad company to be keeping.

Right-arm seamer Bohara has taken more wickets for Nepal than any other bowler since the last World Cup.

Interestingly, for a player with that record, he bowls very few of his deliveries in the powerplay (9%). The majority of his deliveries (53%) and wickets (76%) have come in the death overs, at an average of just 17.

With an economy of 9.2 runs-per-over in that phase as well, Bohara is a crucial component for Nepal at the back end of the innings.

Team Watch: Netherlands

A spate of injuries and unavailabilities saw the Dutch deprived of the services of Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Roelof van der Merwe and Colin Ackermann and too many seamers to list for the tournament, but there's no reported fitness concerns among the touring party.

Tactics & Matchups: Though not always a sure pick, Vivian Kingma's early swing against two out-of-form openers is a prospect Nepal will not relish, nor will they have fond memories of facing Aryan Dutt. On what's looked a batting friendly surface the Dutch may just go a batter light to accommodate both specialist seamers, trusting in van Beek and Pringle down the order for hitting.

Team Watch: Nepal

Despite some concerns regarding totemic vice-captain DS Airee, everyone fit and ready to play was the word from the Nepal camp on the eve of the game. Though form is a different question of course. After a high-flying 2023 Nepal have looked off the boil over the last couple of months, with batting (skipper excepted) a particular worry.

Tactics & Matchups: Given a shortage of left handers in the Netherlands line-up and the relative success of Kushal Malla with the ball in the two teams' most recent series, Nepal may be tempted to play Malla in combination with one or both of his fellow left arm spinners Lalit Rajbanshi or Sagar Dhakal in their tournament opener.

Did you know?

The Netherlands hosted Nepal both for their first T20I tour after earning T20I status in 2015 and for their first ODI tour after gaining ODI status three years later. Nepal have played more T20Is against the Netherlands than any other opponent, while for the Dutch the only more familiar opposition are European neighbours Ireland and Scotland.

What they said:

"In a tournament, the first game is very important. It's all about momentum. So, I think If you win the first game, you can believe in the dugout. If you believe in the dugout, you can work hard in the next tournament. So, the first game is 100% very important for us. Especially in 2014, as a kid, watching the game, it was my dream, it was everyone's dream. Tomorrow, we are going to fulfill that dream. If we play in the moment, we can present our best skills and make Nepal proud. We can motivate the next generation." - Nepal Captain Rohit Paudel

"I think all the games in this tournament are big games. You're seeing already in the tournament how many teams are sort of competing with each other and beating each other. So, every game is a big game and you've got to just treat every game as it comes. Obviously, this game, we know the Nepal team quite well because we've played against them recently. But we've also played against South Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka very recently as well as you mentioned in the 50-over World Cup and in the qualifiers. So really looking forward to our group and I'm sure there'll be a lot of jostling within the group" - Netherlands head coach Ryan Cook

Thanks for the tag Madhu.

May the best team win.

Cheers..