Nepal had come agonizingly close to chasing down the target of 116 in Kingstown but couldn’t see the game through. (ICC)
Former South Africa quick Dale Steyn believes Nepal’s one-run loss to South Africa on Saturday was the match of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
“It would’ve been the talk of the tournament if Nepal would’ve gotten over the line. It would’ve been fantastic, and they deserved to win,” Steyn was quoted by the ICC.
“(This was) the match of the tournament to be honest with you. The matches have gone down to the wire (in USA), we’ve moved down to the Caribbean thinking that scores are going to be back up to 160, maybe 170. But these nail-biting thrillers. I saw people crying in the stands, it shows how much it means to them, and that’s what cricket is all about,” he added.
Nepal had come agonizingly close to chasing down the target of 116 in Kingstown but couldn’t see the game through. With two runs needed off the last two balls, Nepal weren’t able to score another and were denied a single off the last courtesy of a run out.
Having won the toss and elected to bowl first, Nepal were able to restrict the Proteas to what had come across as a below par total. Reeza Hendricks (43) and Tristan Stubbs (27) were the leading run scorers for the Proteas.
For Nepal, Kushal Bhurtel snapped four wickets while Dipendra Singh claimed three to his name.
In response, Nepal seemed cruising to a win Aasif Sheikh (42) and Anil Sah (27) having added 50 runs for the third wicket but the Proteas mounted a comeback thanks to Tabraiz Shamsi (4/19) and the pacers defending the low score.
South Africa finished their group stage with four wins from as many games – having already qualified for the Super-8 – while Nepal are out of contention for the next round.
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