Nepal made a disastrous start to their 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World campaign on their return to the cricket’s biggest stage after a decade as they lost their opening match of the Group D to the Netherlands by six wickets in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday.

Nepal, who were invited to bat first after losing the toss, posted a paltry 106 all out from 19.2 overs at the Grand Prairie Stadium after the batters struggled against a disciplined Dutch bowling.

The Rhinos repeated the same mistakes with the bat as openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh failed to give their team a good start again after the play was slightly delayed due to wet outfield.

Netherlands spinner Tim Pringle (3-20) and pacer Logan van Beek (3-18) were the biggest thorns in Nepal’s flesh as their three-wicket hauls put Nepal inside the pressure cooker in an overcast condition throughout the innings.

In between, Paul van Meekeren and Bas de Leede also bowled excellently in the bowling-friendly surface, finishing 2-19 and 2-22, respectively.

Nepal found themselves in big trouble early on at 15-2 in 3.1 overs when they lost Shiekh to Pringle for four in the second over and Bhurtel to van Beek for seven.

Anil Sah departed next for 11 after Pringle had him caught by van Beek, leaving Nepal at 40-3.

Skipper Rohit Paudel was the only batter who looked comfortable against the Dutch bowling attack that struck regularly.

Paudel played a brisk 35 runs off 37 balls to revive Nepal innings, but he never found support in the middle order as Kushal Malla (9), Dipendra Singh Airee (1) and Sompal Kami (0) all fell in quick succession.

Paudel’s resistance also ended in the 16th over when Pringle had him caught by Max O’Dowd for his third wicket.

Karan KC scored 12-ball 17 and Gulsan Jha played 15-ball 14 to take Nepal to 106 from 84-7, but the final three wickets tumbled swiftly and without adding a run after van Beek struck twice in successive balls in the 20th over.

Paudel conceded they could have stretched their total a little further.

“The conditions while batting were really challenging,” the Nepal skipper said.

“Netherlands bowled really well. We could have stretched it a little more and had more partnerships through the middle.”

The Netherlands captain Scott Edwards credited the bowlers for their match-winning show.

"Our bowlers were awesome,” he said. “We got two or three wickets in the powerplay. All five of our bowlers were brilliant.”

In response, Nepal bowled tightly, but could not stop O’Dowd to take the Dutch past the 107-run target with eight balls to spare.

The Netherlands lost their opener Michael Levitt for a cheap one after Sompal Kami had him caught by Airee in 1.2 overs.

But O’Dowd scored an unbeaten half-century to guide his side to 109-4 in 18.4 overs.

O’Dowd smashed a patient knock of 48-ball 54 that featured four boundaries and one six.

Despite a tenacious bowling attack, Nepal gave the Dutch the edge in the game after Sheikh, Kami and Paudel all dropped catches, which otherwise would have put their opponents under extra pressure.

"We did very well as a bowling unit,” Paudel said after the loss. “The last catch that I dropped was not well…and we didn't catch well.”

Levitt and Singh, who played 22 runs off 28 balls, added 40 runs for the second wicket to steady the ship, before Sybrand Engelbrecht played 16-ball 14 to take the Dutch closer to the target.

O’Dowd then smacked Abinash Bohara with two fours and six off the 19th over to wrap things up for the Dutch.

“Ideally, we would have got the runs a little quicker, but it was great the way Max batted, and Bassie finished it off well,” Edwards said.

Nepal next play against Sri Lanka on June 11.