Vikramjit 110, Barresi 97, Bilal 3-75
With four overs remaining in Oman’s innings, the game was stopped due to poor lighting, and the Netherlands won using the DLS system.
By 74 runs using the DLS technique, the Netherlands scored 362 for 7 (Vikramjit 110, Barresi 97, Bilal 3-75) to defeat Oman’s 246 for 6 (Ayaan 105*, Shoaib 46, Dutt 3-31). In a rain-shortened match in Harare, the Netherlands defeated Oman by 74 runs to keep their World Cup aspirations alive. Still, the margin of victory did not allow them to surpass Scotland or Zimbabwe regarding net run rate. Ayaan Khan, who played a chance-filled hand to score his first ODI century on his route to an unbeaten 105 off 92 deliveries, was chiefly responsible for it. Only Shoaib Khan, who batted alongside him, had a notable performance for Oman, and the two of them had a fifth-wicket stand of 112 runs. However, they never appeared to be in danger of exceeding the enormous Dutch total.
Oman was on 246 for 6 44 overs into the chase when poor lighting forced an early end to play. Ayaan was at the crease. The Dutch needed to hold Oman to 242 for their NRR to surpass that of Scotland after choosing to bat and scoring 362 for 7 in a game of 48 overs. This would have been extremely important if there had been a three-way tie for second place. Only if Scotland defeats Zimbabwe tomorrow and the Netherlands defeats Scotland after that can happen. Even if Scotland wins tomorrow, the Dutch must beat Scotland by a significant margin to pass them on NRR. The Dutch are out of the running tomorrow, barring a victory for Scotland.
It may be a slight sadness that they couldn’t win by the requisite margin today because their hitters had set them up nicely. Wesley Barresi came close to scoring his first ODI century, Vikramjit Singh hit his first ODI century, and then cameos from Bas de Leede and Saqib Zulfiqar helped spark a late onslaught that resulted in 127 runs being scored off the final 10 overs. After that, their bowlers gave them a head start by reducing Oman to 4 for 102. However, Ayaan and Shoaib came together for their resolute stand, which would have been incredibly disheartening given that Ayaan had been dropped thrice during his innings—on 12, 20, and 33. Even though all three were of differing complexity, it would have hurt if any had been taken. Ayaan’s knock, which included 11 fours and two sixes—one a lavish lofted straight drive and the other a strong pick-up over long-on—was unaffected by that. However, his control percentage of 77% reveals yet another area where the Dutch may have felt a little unlucky, with numerous mishits landing safely.
He had the most trouble playing against the brilliant Aryan Dutt, whose subtle variations and tempo changes caused several Oman batters to struggle. The only other batters to enter the game except Aayan were Kashyap Prajapati, Mohammed Nadeem, and Shoaib. The right-arm off-spinner finished with figures of 3 for 31 in 10 overs. Oman lost the game on the field, as they allowed 36 extra points, including 23 wides. Oman conceded nearly four extra overs in a match cut short by two overs per team. This was coupled with a subpar ground-fielding effort, resulting in several easy singles and doubles that would add up. But the Dutch deserve praise for establishing the standard for between-the-wicket running during the tournament. This aggression occasionally worked against Sri Lanka, a far better fielding team, but against Oman, every inch that could be gained was.
It served as the cornerstone of an inning that never really calmed down, kicking off with that devastating death-over onslaught and ending with a 117-run opening standoff with 132 pitches. When Singh fell shortly after hitting his century, Barresi increased the stakes in succeeding stands of 30, 55, and 57 with Scott Edwards, de Leede, and Zulfiqar, respectively. In between, the Singh-Barresi stand for 80 off 72 was played. No bowler had a strike rate of less than 100 against him, although he showed a particular fondness for Aaqib Ilyas and Ayaan’s spin, hitting the former for two sixes over cow corner and the latter for a flat smash over long-off. Ilyas was the stand-in skipper for the injured Zeeshan Maqsood. He only needed 65 deliveries to score 97 runs, including 10 fours and 3 sixes.
The Dutch also performed well in the game, elevating de Leede and Zulfiqar above Teja Nidamanuru when rapid runs were required. In just 36 deliveries, the two would score a total of 72 points. While it was sufficient to keep them in the running for qualification, they must now wait and see what Scotland accomplishes tomorrow.
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