The 41-year-old Dutchman Roelof van der Merwe took a brilliant catch to dismiss Tilak Verma, who was in good form for their last group match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 against the Netherlands.
Verma tried to maximize long off with a big swing, but the timing was not right. The experienced spinner of Netherlands ran to catch the ball near the boundary rope. Roelof van der Merwe threw his body forward and took the catch without making any mistake.
India vs Netherlands: A dead rubber
Team India and Netherlands- Both the teams will not gain anything from today’s (18th February) match. India, the co-hosts and defending champions, have already booked their place in the next round of the tournament, while the Netherlands cricket team is all set to pack their bags to return home.
Before heading to the airport, the Dutch national cricket team tried to take one last chance, and that too against the mighty Team India, which is considered one of the favorites to claim the title again.
Netherlands had a strong start
Netherlands made a good start to the match by dismissing Abhishek Sharma for zero. This was Sharma’s third wicket in three matches played in the tournament. Their opening pair Ishan Kishan was also out quickly for just 18 runs.
Those two early wickets did not help the Netherlands much, as the middle-order batsmen played their roles quite well. Tilak Verma, captain Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey played some brilliant innings and scored a total of 193 runs in 20 overs. During this, Dubey scored a half-century.
Roelof van der Merwe, 41, took a diving catch to dismiss Tilak Verma.
Despite a brilliant batting performance by the Indian batsmen, the catch taken by Roelof van der Merwe remains one of the most spectacular scenes of the first innings. On the last ball of the 9th over, Verma swung his blade sharply at a fuller and well outside off ball from Logan van Beek. At first glance, the shot looks perfect, and the ball was traveling at a good speed.
Verma might have aimed for the over-the-cover region, but the ball ultimately went towards the long-off region. Roelof van der Merwe moved to his right and threw himself to catch the ball. Despite the hard landing, the ball remained intact in the safe hands of the fielder. Varam had to score 31 runs out of 27.
Undoubtedly, the greatest catch ever taken by 41-year-old Roelof van der Merwe in the T20 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/3YqgqGROY4
– World Monitor (@MonitorWarnow) 18 February 2026
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