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NED won by 7 wickets

2:03 PM IST, local time: Bas de Leede leads Netherlands to their first victory in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. They win by 7 wickets with two complete overs to spare.

The all-rounder personified class with both bat and ball in hand. He delivered the tough overs — 13th, 17th and 19th — when the batters were on the charge, looking to push down on the gas pedal. Yet, de Leede always seemed one step ahead of them. His variations were subtle, lines and lengths smart and effort purposeful. He returned 2/20 off those 3 overs of medium pace he sent down.

With the bat, his start was not the most fluent one. However, now that feels like a thing that happened an age ago. As he spent time in the middle, de Leede started to find his touch. He placed the ball with precision, ran hard between the wickets, unleashed some exquisite shots along the ground and in between also exhibited power as he pummelled the ball out of the park.

While Bas played the lead role. It won't be wrong to say that Aryan Dutt set the tone with a frugal spell up front. The off spinner bowled 3 overs in the powerplay and returned a miserly 1/13. Post that, Namibia's innings largely moved like an rusty old bicycle on a muddy road. Yes, there was some extra bounce on the wicket and the odd ball turned too. However, it still was not a bad pitch to bat on. Alas, Namibia never looked to be in control. Loftie-Eaton top-scored with 42, but it was not a flourishing innings by any means. JJ Smit's 15-ball-22 provided the impetus towards the end and helped them get past 150.

However, it was not enough to contain the Dutch. Michael Levitt set the tone with an effervescent 15-ball-28 while Colin Ackermann and Scott Edwards played the perfect foil to Bas de Leede as they crossed the finish line with ample time to spare.

Player of the Match: Bas de Leede

Bas de Leede (POTM): "[On conditions] I think we were lucky to bowl first, as it gave us a good look at the wicket, and I thought we adjusted really well as a bowling group. Then, batting later in the game, it felt like the surface started to skid on a bit. So again, credit to the batters for adjusting to that.

[Bowling plan] Probably a touch shorter than usual. We felt the wicket was a little sticky, so both the spinners and seamers tried to bowl slightly shorter, looking to get batters to hit balls that weren’t really there for them.

[Where did you feel the best scoring options were?] Down the ground. As a batting group, we talk a lot about adapting to new conditions, and you could see the incoming batters looking to play as straight as possible, which I think was best suited to this wicket.

[What sort of effect do you think that's had on your game so far?] It’s allowed me to really focus over the last couple of months. With the T20 World Cup in mind, I knew what was required, so I put in a lot of hours trying to improve my game.

Gerhard Erasmus (Namibia captain): "(About the batting) I thought we did reasonably well. It was a tacky wicket at the start in the morning. 40/1 in the powerplay was a little bit less on runs, but really good in terms of assessing where we were in the game. The ball was stopping on a bit from the off spinners. But we did a decent job to get to a competitive total at the 11th-12th over. But we could not push deep and get ourselves to the 175-mark.  

(What was the shortcoming?) Guys tried to build partnerships. It is about individuals taking ownership of their performance. We lost wickets at crucial stages. The batters had to apply themselves to get upwards of 160-170, but we could not get there. 

(On the bowling) It was matter of applying pressure. There was enough in the wicket. It is always tough to manage when you are a few runs shy. You have to try a few things and buy a wicket or too. We tried but did not quite get apply the pressue. 

(On the upcoming night game against India at the same venue) It will be about adjusting to the lights. Think it will be quite loud too. But I guess it is about enjoying the occasion. If we do that, it will be good."

Scott Edwards (Netherlands captain): "Pretty good day. We got a little bit better of the conditions. Guys bowled well in the powerplay and we were able to restrict them to what I thought was a little bit below par total.

(On the presence of left-handers in the opposition) We back out offies to bowl at both righties and lefties. It is nice when there are some lefties in the opposition though.

(On Bas de Leede) He does it all. He was sensational. He bowled his first over at around the 10th over I think, but he showed great control. 

(On Michael Levitt) He has been massive for us in the last two years or so. He is an attacking batter. He has got power. It was nice to see him do that (score 28 off 15 balls). He has a big one coming around the corner.

(On the next game against USA in Chennai) If we win that game it gives ourselves a chance. We will be travelling tomorrow and then, preparing for that one.

Netherlands knock Namibia down to register the first points on the table. They will now head to Chennai where they face the USA next. Meanwhile, Gerhard Erasmus and co. will have to do some rethinking over the next couple of days. They face the defending champions at the same venue in a little over 48 hours.

We hope that you enjoyed the coverage of this match as much as we did bringing it to you. It was the duo of Darpan Tikiya and Deepak Prakash who used their words to paint the vivid pictures of the action. Raju Khariya kept you up to date with the score, and Aman was responsible for the intriguing stats that came your way. 

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