T20 World Cup: De Leede makes Netherlands forget Pakistan pain with Namibia win
India Today
Bas de Leede's all-round brilliance helped the Netherlands forget the heartbreak of the Pakistan loss and hammer Namibia by 7 wickets to get off the mark in the T20 World Cup 2026 in New Delhi on Tuesday, February 10.
Bas de Leede comes with a lot of international pedigree and carries the legacy of his father, Tim, who once had India on the ropes during their 2003 ODI World Cup encounter in South Africa. But the Dutch side came into the contest needing some inspiration after their heartbreaking loss to Pakistan in their opening match. De Leede did exactly that as he stepped up with a match-winning 72 not out and disciplined bowling as the Netherlands got off the mark with a seven-wicket win over Namibia.
De Leede also picked up two wickets for 20 runs in his three overs and got support from Logan van Beek (2/13 in three overs) as the Dutch were able to restrict Namibia for 156 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their 20 overs. The all-rounder led the chase expertly with the bat as the Netherlands reached the target with 12 balls to spare and got their first points of the tournament.
T20 WORLD CUP, NED VS NAM: Scorecard | Highlights
During the match against Pakistan, the Dutch were caught out with bat and ball in the death overs of the match. With the ball, they had all but sealed a famous win before Van Beek went for plenty in the 19th over as he was taken apart by Faheem Ashraf.
But the bowling was much more disciplined from start to finish in the first innings. Aryan Dutt and Van Beek started off by not giving any space to the Namibia openers before the former frustrated Louren Steenkamp long enough to make a mistake and get stumped.
The Dutch captain Scott Edwards was constantly making changes to his bowling pack, meaning that Namibia got just 29 runs in the first five overs of the powerplay. Seeing the impact that Dutt made with the ball, Edwards decided to bring Colin Ackermann and that allowed Loftie-Eaton and Frylinck to capitalise and gain some momentum.
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