Watch: Netherlands quick hits 145kph to rattle Sri Lanka with back-to-back blows; Harsha Bhogle impressed
Netherlands fast bowler Paul van Meekeran breathed fire during Netherlands' T20 World Cup Group A match against Dasun Shanaka's Sri Lanka at Simonds Stadium in Geelong on Thursday, October 20.
Sri Lanka got off to a sedate start as they scored 36 runs in the powerplay. Pathum Nissanka, who won the Player of the Match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kusal Mendis made sure that their team didn't lose any wicket in the first six overs.
However, Van Meekeren undid their good work in the seventh over. The speedster bowled at around 145 km/h and sent Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva back to the pavilion.
Starting with, Van Meekeren rattled Nissanka's woodwork with a pin-point yorker. The pacer managed to get some late in-swing and the batter didn't have any answer to the vicious toe-crusher.
Nissanka perished after scoring 14 runs off 21 balls with the help of one six. After performing well against CP Rizwaan's UAE, Nissanka failed to make much of an impact against the Dutch team, led by Scott Edwards.
As far as Van Meereren is concerned, he got rid of de Silva in the very next ball. The seamer wrapped the Sri Lankan batter on his pads, and the umpire didn't have any hesitation in raising his finger.
De Silva thought of taking the review after consulting Mendis at the non-striker's end, but went against it. He went back to the pavilion after bagging a golden duck.
Van Meekeren had the chance of becoming the second bowler after Karthik Meiyappan to pick up a hat-trick in the ongoing World Cup, but that wasn't the case.
Charith Asalanka managed to survive the hat-trick ball after picking up a single through a streaky outside edge down to the third man region.
In his first two overs, Van Meekeren picked up two wickets and conceded nine runs. However, Edwards removed him from the attack thereafter.
Harsha Bhogle was super impressed with the quick, voicing that it was "as good as it came" in the commentary box.
Here's the video of Paul van Meekeren picking up the wickets in the T20 World Cup match