SL VS NED | Twitter reacts as Sri Lanka breeze through chase against Dutch to secure first win in World Cup

10/21/2023

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Sri Lanka opened their account in Lucknow on Saturday by defeating the Netherlands by 5 wickets. The Dutch fought back valiantly to put up 262 while Dilshan Madushanka and Kasun Rajitha wreaked havoc but fifties from Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama sealed a comfortable win for the Lions.

The Netherlands faced a challenging start after opting to bat first, managing only 48 runs and losing two wickets in the first powerplay. Thereon, Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka kept posing problems for the Dutch batsmen, triggering a collapse that left the Europeans reeling at 103/6 after 25 overs. However, Sybrand Engelbrecht (70) and Logan van Beek (59) adopted a more cautious and deliberate approach, their 130-run partnership entering the record books as the highest in World Cup history for seventh wicket or lower. It needed the strike-pace bowling duo to return to the attack to finally break the stand and close out the innings strongly for the Lions as both of them ended with four wickets. Nevertheless, the Netherlands managed to put together 87 runs in their last 10 overs before tumbling out for a total of 262.

Sri Lanka got their chase off to a solid start despite Aryan Dutt snaring two early wickets. Some lax bowling and tactics by the Dutch allowed Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Nissanka to stabilize the innings, the latter achieving his 12th ODI half-century off just 48 balls in the process. Bas de Leede’s 16-run 15th over further helped their case as the Lions brought up the 100-run mark in the following over. Eventually, Paul van Meekeren put an end to the 52-run partnership by dismissing Nissanka but another steady stand of 77 followed between Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama that took the game out of the Dutch's hands. By the time Aryan Dutt bowled Asalanka for 44, it was too little too late and Samarawickrama eventually ended unbeaten on 91 to finish off things for the Lions to claim victory with 10 balls to spare.

That's how you win games!

Dhananjaya could have helped Samarawickrama to achieve his ton #CWC23 #NEDvSL #lka .
— Hannan Munas (@HannanMunas) October 21, 2023

Brilliant win for SL here!

Sri Lanka first win of the tournament!#SriLanka #NEDvSL #CWC23 #india pic.twitter.com/VeT2dNjtkh
— Muhammad Saqib (@Saqib_tweets01) October 21, 2023

Team work!

Sri Lanka wins #NEDvSL match and opens its account on the #ICCCricketWorldCup points table

But, congratulations to #Netherlands for playing really well.
— Janardhanan S🇮🇳 (@MadCapProf) October 21, 2023

NED tried their best!

Another upset 🤯 in CWC 2023

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 beat Netherlands 🇳🇱 by 5 wickets#NEDvSL #SLvNED #CWC23 #CWC23INDIA
— Piyush Verma (@PiyushV15093310) October 21, 2023

Decent finish!

Netherlands need's some more runs for win. Well played! @KNCBcricket #NEDvSL #SLvsNED #OutdoYourself #SuperMarioBrosWonder #GazaHospitalBombing
— Mehedi Hasan Opu (@____a_p_u____) October 21, 2023

SL win it for their fans!

Sri Lanka Win first match in the world Cup #NEDvSL #ENGvsRSA pic.twitter.com/QKDqBIAvIK
— Hamza Khan 🇵🇰 (@ithamzakhan) October 21, 2023

They bought it so close!

Verry well played Netherland end tak fight ki🫡

Mujhe lagta ha next wc tak Netherland bht dangerous team ban jayegi..#NEDvSL #SLvsNed
— 🆂anny🇵🇰🇵🇸 (@HeartLess790) October 21, 2023

SamaraVEERA he is!