The Netherlands cricket team’s spectacular victory over South Africa in the World Cup 2023 match, played on Tuesday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, India, has been praised by cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar.
Astonishingly, the Dutch team, captained by Scott Edwards, defeated the Proteas by 38 runs.
The ‘Master Blaster’ of cricket, Tendulkar, was quite complimentary of the Dutch team’s performance. This World Cup is producing some intriguing consequences, he observed. It was good to see Netherlands Captain Scott Edwards take the initiative and fight when they were once down 140/7.
The Dutch team came back from a hazardous position of 140/7 to score a competitive total of 245/8 in the game, which was reduced to 43 overs each side owing to rain. Edwards, who scored an unbeaten 78 off 69 balls, was instrumental in this comeback.
Tendulkar praised the Dutch team’s fielding efforts as well, saying that they placed the South African batsmen under a lot of strain. “What pleased me the most about them in the field was how they put the SA batters under pressure by not giving easy singles,” he said.
With this victory, the Netherlands has now defeated South Africa in ICC competitions twice in the past 12 months. The Proteas had earlier been eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2022 by the Dutch squad after a 13-run victory.
“A win and a night to remember for them!” Tendulkar declared as he wrapped up his speech. Indeed, this triumph will go down in Dutch cricket lore as a key turning point in their international cricket career.
With the victory, Netherlands rose to eighth place in the standings, and their next match is against Sri Lanka in Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
