With the surface offering assistance for the spinners, Roelof van der Merwe ditched his usual approach of darting in deliveries and instead consistently gave the ball more air to allow it to spin. And spin it did right from the start for the Dutch tweakers. Yet, the USA batters, led by the 21-year-old Mukkamalla, demolished the spinners in orange. That was clearly the difference between the two sides. The continued absence of Paul van Meekeren, Netherlands’ best bowler against Pakistan, didn’t help either as he recovers from an injury. In the end, USA ended up registering the highest score (196) at this venue in this year’s T20 World Cup. It was perhaps a bit more than what the Dutch should have conceded, as their coach admitted after the game.
