Ultimately, it was the Netherlands who clinched the match.
The contest between the Netherlands vs Nepal turned out to be a record-breaking one in Glasgow during their second tie in the Scotland T20 tri-series. After 20 overs of the game from each side and three super overs, the match finally got a winner in the form of Netherlands.
Nepal restricted the Netherlands batters to 152/7 after opting to field first in Titwood, Glasgow. Apart from a Max O’Dowd cameo and Saqib Zulfiqar’s blazing knock, all other batters made run-a-ball contributions. Dowd provided a brisk start to the innings with his 11-ball-19 at a strike rate of 172.72. Coming in at the 17th over, Zulfiqar took just 12 deliveries to smash two quick sixes and a boundary and added 25 runs more into Netherlands’ scoreboard. Nepal’s spinner Sandeep Lamichhane bowled a brilliant four-over spell to scalp three wickets while conceding just 18 runs.
The Nepal batters didn’t manage to get a good start while chasing the low total. Opener Kushal Bhurtel’s 34 runs off 23 balls and skipper Rohit Paudel’s 35-ball-48 were the only notable knocks, as Nepal were set to get defeated by the Netherlands. However, Nepal’s pacer Nandan Yadav had some different plans for the match. He faced the last four balls of the match when they needed 13 runs to win. His two timely boundaries and as many doubles levelled the scores and took the team to the super over. Previously, he had also scalped two wickets in the first innings.
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But the twists and turns in the tale started from here. Bhurtel smashed 18 runs off five balls but Netherlands’ Michael Levitt (6 off 3) and O’Dowd (12 off 3) tied the scores and took the game into a second super over. They posted 17 with the help of a four-ball-nine from captain Scott Edwards and seven off two balls from O’Dowd. Surprisingly, Nepal once again levelled the scores to take the match into a record third super over to decide its fate.
However, after all the exciting and nerve-wrenching action, a bitter end awaited the Nepali batters in the third super over. Captain Rohit and Rupesh Singh failed to add a single run on the scoreboard before their dismissals. Levitt finally clinched the match for the Netherlands by hitting a six.
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This is the first time any men’s professional match, including T20 and List A, has gone into a third super over in history. Previously, there have been two matches where the teams had to play two super overs to get the final results. India’s clash against Afghanistan at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in January 2024 was the only international match to get to two super-overs.
Earlier, the clash between Mumbai Indians and the Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) in the Dubai International Stadium in the Indian Premier League 2020, also witnessed multiple super overs to decide the match result. India and the Punjab franchise won these two matches, respectively.
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