‘Rabada ne kabada kar diya’ – Cricketing world in shock as Netherlands register win against South Africa in 20-20 World Cup

South Africa and Netherlands faced off against each other in the ongoing 20-20 World Cup 2022 and it was the latter who took home the 2 points giving hope to Pakistan to make it through to the semis. 

After electing to field first, the South African pacers lacked rhythm leaking runs in the powerplay. After being wicketless at the end of 6 overs, Netherlands, who got off to a flyer, lost their opener Stephan Myburgh for a well-crafted 37 runs. Their other opener, Max ODowd, returned to the pavilion after contributing 29 runs with the bat. 

However, it was Colin Ackermann who stood up for the team in the death overs as the star cricketer scored a quickfire 41 off 26 balls to help the team put on 158 runs on the board at the end of the first innings. Tom Cooper, on the other hand, contributed a 19-ball 35 before making his way back to the pavilion. 

Netherlands do the unthinkable

South Africa, on the other hand, looked out of form right from the start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. To comment more, while the opener Quinton de Kock gathered a run-a-ball 13, the Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma perished for 20 runs putting the team in deep trouble. 

Brandon Glover’s three-for helped his team clinch an emphatic win against South Africa in the death, as the Proteas crumbled like a pack of cards on the back of failures from David Miller, Keshav Maharaj and Rilee Rossouw. Netherlands registered their first-ever win in the internationals against the mighty South Africans. As things stand, Bavuma looked out of words in dreariness post the conclusion of the match and the team’s hopes of making it through to the next round have faded. 

“Very disappointing. We really played well before this game. We knew it was a must-win game and again we faltered when it mattered. Hard one to swallow for the guys. We had the confidence and the belief to get to the knockouts,” said Bavuma in the post-match interview. 

Here are the Twitter reactions to the epic match between Netherlands and South Africa: