‘Not an upset’ if Dutch keep winning at mega event

LUCKNOW: Dutch batsman Teja Nidamanuru believes it will not be an ‘upset’ if his team defeat Sri Lanka on Saturday and keep alive their bid to reach the cricket World Cup semi-finals.

Ater stunning South Africa by 38 runs on Tuesday for their first victory over a Test-playing nation at the 50-over global showpiece, the Netherlands turn their atentions to 1996 champions Sri Lanka.

“We’ve competed against Sri Lanka multiple times in the qualifiers, and obviously we fell short in our bating side,” he said.

“We’ve worked extremely hard on that so we are here to play well and win. I wouldn’t call it an upset if I’m honest.”

At the qualifiers, Sri Lanka came out on top by 21 runs and then 128 runs in the final.

Indian-born Nidamanuru was out for a duck in both those games although he cracked a century in the victory over two-time champions West Indies.

For Sri Lanka, spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga claimed 11 wickets between them in the games in Zimbabwe.

However, leg-spinner Hasaranga was ruled out of the World Cup through injury while offspinner Theekshana has struggled to shake off a hamstring strain in India. He has just one wicket from two games.

“I think if we assess those two games that we played against Sri Lanka, it’s our bating department that probably didn’t live up to the expectation,” admited Nidamanuru.

“In the final, we kept them down to a good score, we could have chased that, but obviously their spin through the middle was something that troubled us.”

Nidamanuru, 29, is desperate to get going with the bat at the World Cup.

So far he has scores of 5, 21 and 20 with his team losing to Pakistan and New Zealand before gaining their first win against South Africa.

“It’s a litle bit frustrating. Obviously, I’d love to be contributing more towards the team’s success,” he said.

“I personally feel good. I can feel that it’s around the corner.”

Another win on Saturday may help to push cricket a litle higher up the sporting agenda in the Netherlands where it remains a mystery to large parts of the population.