T20 World Cup: Netherlands succumb to pressure vs Pakistan

For a while at the Sinhalese Sports Complex ground in Colombo, the Netherlands team might have believed that they were re-living the dream. But the magic of those memorable wins that the Dutch had experienced against South Africa in the 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup couldn’t be recreated as Max O’Dowd missed a sitter offered by Faheem Ashraf in the 19th over. O’Dowd had played those games as well and he must have been gutted on Saturday.A day ahead of the match, the batter himself had said that the team is “as prepared as it has ever been.” But it’s match experience under pressure that keeps hurting them, and it wasn’t any different on Saturday. Since the 2024 T20 World Cup, the Netherlands team has played only 18 T20Is, and that too not against top-quality opposition.

But ahead of this World Cup, they had three weeks of practice in Chennai and Colombo, where they tried to get used to the conditions. But the humidity and the pressure of big moments did take their toll. In fact, their senior pacer Paul Van Meekeren did struggle with his fitness midway through his spell. But he fought back, finishing with 2-20, but it was not enough.

One could see the disappointment of the veteran paceman to come so close, but being unable to pull it off.“We’re a very close team and there are a few guys who are actually disappointed in the changing room. But we stand behind them and back them all the way to be their best for the next game against Namibia,” Van Meekeren, who had to do food delivery during Covid to make ends meet, said.The team has gone through quite a bit in recent times. In addition to the lack of competitive exposure that hurt them on Saturday, they had to endure pay cuts due to lack of funding.

Still, the bonding of was there to see as they seemed to soak in every moment of their World Cup experience against a former champion.There were a few bright spots for the associate nation despite the defeat, No. 1 being their ability to show some fight when the chips were down. It, of course, helped that Roelf Van der Merwee and van Meekeren, who have significant experience, were bowling. It was the batting that was probably a bit of a let-down.