We have seen some fascinating contests in the ongoing Nepal Tri-Nation T20I series and today it was another cliffhanger right up to the final delivery of the match.
Nail-biting match between the Netherlands and Malaysia ends in stalemate
The Netherlands, tipped as favourites to win the tri-nation series in Kathmandu, managed to avoid a defeat just by a whisker against lionhearted Malaysia in the fifth match of the series. In a rain truncated clash, Malaysia fell short by a run while chasing 92 in 10 overs. Vivian Kingma held his nerve in the final over and defended seven runs in a nerve-jangling affair.
Malaysia was in full control when they started off their innings, having lost no wicket at 56 as Syed Aziz and Anwar Arudin knitted a solid partnership. However, frequent rain interruptions stymied the momentum and after the second rain break, the Dutch pace battery was on the money. They were able to get wickets in a cluster and Malaysia's chase got derailed.
Batting first, Netherlands lost wickets early in the piece as Tobias Visee was spot on with the new ball. Meanwhile, Muhammad Wafiq from the other end bowled a menacing opening burst and shed two wickets. With veteran players missing in the Dutch team's today, Malaysia caused problems to the better-ranked side.
Ben Cooper steadied the ship alongside captain Pieter Seelaar and the former smashed a quickfire half-century. Additionally, some useful contribution from Seelar and lower-order batsmen helped propel the score to 107/4 in 13 overs.
After a blistering start by Malaysia's openers, van Meekeren reaped rewards for his change-up deliveries that stemmed the run flow. While Malaysia required near run a ball for the most part of their innings but in the crucial moments, the reigning T20 World Cup Qualifier champion was able to showcase their experience and in the end managed to tie the match.
The rain played spoilsport way too many times inevitably changing the target after each interruption. Malaysia required 36 off the final four overs and they went after every delivery, kind of panicking and miscuing one big shot too many as Arudin and Aziz lost the plot.
However, Virandeep Singh kept them in the hunt and plonked three boundaries in the defining moments of the match but Sebastiaan Braat put a lid on him too and outsmarted him as he got holed out to long-on.
Malaysia will now play their final round-robin match tomorrow against Nepal and would be eyeing to finish their Tri-Nation Series campaign on a high note while the Netherlands have already booked the final berth.
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