"Going forward South Africa might regret and think about these two points" - Imran Tahir on the Proteas' World Cup 2023 loss vs Netherlands

Imran Tahir reckons South Africa might regret the two points they lost against Netherlands during the later stages of World Cup 2023.

Scott Edwards and Co. set the Proteas a 246-run target in 43 overs in a rain-truncated affair in Dharamsala on Tuesday, October 17. The Proteas were then bowled out for 207 to lose the game by 38 runs, their first defeat of the tournament after they started their campaign with successive wins.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Match Point', Imran Tahir was asked how big a loss it was for South Africa, to which he responded:

"It is an incredibly big loss. I think going forward South Africa might regret and think about these two points which they didn't achieve today (on Tuesday) but all credit goes to the Dutch team."

The former South Africa spinner praised the Dutch team for outplaying their more illustrious rivals. He elaborated:

"They wanted it very badly. You can see that they were very passionate and they did everything right to win this game. Really, really well done to them. They batted well, they fielded well and you saw that belief in their bowling. So credit goes to the Dutch team. They were the better team today."

South Africa have been stunned by the Netherlands in two successive global events. They were knocked out of last year's T20 World Cup after a group-stage defeat against them.

However, they still have a good chance of recovering from Tuesday's defeat and making it through to the knockout stages of the ongoing World Cup.

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"Netherlands shouldn't have scored more than 150 to 170 runs" - Imran Tahir on the turning point of the game

Scott Edwards played a game-changing knock for the Netherlands. [P/C: AP]

Imran Tahir was further asked to pick the turning point of the game, to which he replied:

"The turning point was the partnerships. I think they (the Netherlands) shouldn't have scored more than 150 to 170 runs the way South African bowlers bowled, but just in the end, they were a little bit off from their plans."

Tahir concluded by pointing out that losing a few early wickets troubled Temba Bavuma and Co. in the run chase. He said:

"They allowed the Dutch batters to get to 245, which was I think a very decent score on that track, which was helping the seamers. We all knew that if they lose a couple of early wickets it could be trouble for South Africa and that's exactly what happened."

South Africa allowed the Netherlands to set them a 246-run target after having reduced them to 140/7. The Dutch skipper Scott Edwards scored an unbeaten 78 off 69 deliveries and added crucial runs with Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt to take his side to a fighting total.

The Proteas were then reduced to 44/4 in the run chase and could never recover from that despite David Miller and Keshav Maharaj's fighting efforts.