Nepal hammered the Netherlands by nine wickets in their second match of the Nepal tri-series of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 (2024-2027) at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, Kathmandu on Saturday.

On Thursday, Nepal had suffered a four-wicket defeat against Namibia in the inaugural match of the League 2 but on Saturday Kushal Bhurtel, Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh made sure the Rhinos stayed on track for the automatic qualification spot for the 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

Bhurtel took 4-20—his career best ODI figure–to help Nepal bowl out the tournament favourites Dutch for a low 137 total after Rohit Paudel won the toss and elected to field first.

In the chase, Bhurtel gave Nepal a fine start with 11-ball 28, smashing two boundaries and three sixes.

In-form Sah and Sheikh then shared an unbroken 101-run stand to chase down the target in just 15.2 overs.

Sah, who completed the big victory with a four off Max O’Dowd, remained unbeaten on 57. His 36-ball knock featured six hits to the fences and four maximums.

It was Sah’s third successive fifty or fifty plus score for Nepal in the one-day internationals. In the League 2 warm-up three-match bilateral ODI series against Canada, he slammed Nepal’s fastest fifty (19-ball 50) in the second ODI and an unbeaten century (112 not out off 124 balls) in the third ODI. Nepal swept the series 3-0.

Sheikh scored his 11th ODI fifty with an unconquered knock of 45-ball 54 that included eight fours and one six.

It was Nepal’s third-quickest chase in the ODIs. Nepal’s fastest ODI chase came in February, 2020 during the last League 2 cycle when they overtook the United States’ 36-run target in just 5.2 overs. In March last year, Nepal overhauled Papua New Guinea’s 96-run target in just 7.4 overs, also during the League 2. Both records were made in Kirtipur.

“We wanted to make maximum use of the powerplay. The target was 138 and we wanted to score in the powerplay. Bhurtel and Sheikh made a good start and Sah continued the momentum,” said Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel after the victory.

“The Netherlands have been playing really good cricket. But we knew if we play to our standard, we could beat any side,” Paudel added.

Earlier, the Netherlands struggled with the bat from the onset, with Sompal Kami removing opener Michael Levitt for a duck in the third delivery of the first over.

After O’Dowd departed cheaply for 10 in the 5.6 overs, Sybrand Engelbrecht (23) and Bas de Leede (27) slowly built the Netherlands innings but Lalit Rajbanshi (2-32) struck back getting rid of both the batters and put the Dutch deeply in trouble at 67-4 in 20 overs.

Bhurtel, playing his 50th ODI, then ripped through the remaining batting line up, dismissing Noah Croes (12), Wesley Barresi (0), Aryan Dutt (10), Vivian Kingma (2) and the Netherlands’ top scorer Scott Edwards (33).

Bhurtel was adjudged player-of-the-match.

“I think I executed well today. I have been working with my bowling for the past two years. Big thanks to the coaching staff and captain Paudel for putting faith in me,” said Bhurtel after the match.

Nepal will play Namibia on February 21 and the Netherlands on February 25 in the second round of the round-robin tri-series.