T20 World Cup 2022: The race for the World Cup has just started and the qualifiers are just the first hurdle in this marathon that will lead the teams towards World Cup victory. The T20 World Cup this time around features 16 international teams. The Super 12 stage starts on October 22, 2022. This edition of the World Cup will be played across 7 Australian cities and will go on till November 13, 2022.
Match 1: Namibia vs Sri Lanka
Upset, utter upset, this is how we can summarize today's first encounter. The champions of the Asia Cup Sri Lanka were touted as the favourites before this encounter, but what transpired is something that has made the equation of the World Cup interesting. Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to field first. This happens to be a trend that is being followed in world cricket these days. Namibia certainly brought their best to the table. They were jolted by a few early blows upfront but they made it a point to stand their ground and face the Sri Lankan challenge. Namibia's Jan Frylinck scored 44 off 28 deliveries and JJ Smit scored a swashbuckling 31 off 16 deliveries. Sri Lanka were taken to the cleaners as they gave away 57 runs off 24 deliveries. The Lankan batsmen were pretty dismal with the bat and none of them could score even 30 runs. Gerhard Erasmus and his boys were pretty clinical with the ball as they restricted Sri Lanka to 108 runs and won the match by 55 runs.
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Match 2: Netherlands vs UAE
The race to end on the losing side, is exactly what happened in the second match of the World Cup qualifiers. If compared to UAE, the Dutch side certainly holds a higher pedigree as far as the standards of international cricket are concerned. UAE came out to bat first and managed to score just 111 runs. Muhammad Waseem with his 47 balls 41 top-scored for UAE. Waseem received little help from his teammates who were pretty mediocre with the bat. Netherlands required 112 odd runs to win but they made a complete mockery of the chase. UAE kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and tried to restrict Netherlands. Junaid Siddique in particular was outstanding for UAE. The speedster clinched 3 wickets and conceded 24 runs in his quota of 4 overs. With just 1 ball to spare, Netherlands somehow won the match.
ALSO READ | Sri Lanka register unwanted record as they go down to Namibia
Sneak Peek into Day 2:
As the race to qualify for the Super 12 intensifies, Nicolas Pooran's West Indies will play against Scotland at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart and Zimbabwe will lock horns against Ireland at the same venue.
