Underdogs Namibia powered themselves to a memorable 55-run victory over Sri Lanka, the reigning Asia Cup champions, in the T20 World Cup 2022 opener in Geelong. The two teams are placed together in the preliminary qualifying round along with Netherlands and UAE.
Two of the four will proceed to the Super 12 round, and Namibia have made a strong claim to reach the next round with a thumping win on Sunday at the Simonds Stadium.
This stunning upset by Namibia, an Associate team, over the 2014 T20 World Cup winners, Sri Lanka, triggered all kinds of reactions on social media, with even a spate of former cricketers voicing their surprise and emotions.
Among many, one which took everyone by surprise, was a hilarious punny tweet from Sachin Tendulkar, the former Indian batting great. It is least to say that perhaps even Tendulkar hadn’t expected Namibia to defeat Sri Lanka, let alone romp them by 55 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to write an amusing tweet using the pun in Namibia’s name.
“Namibia has told the cricketing world today… “Nam” yaad rakhna!” Tendulkar tweeted.
Here, check out Sachin Tendulkar’s funny tweet after Namibia thrashed Sri Lanka:
Namibia 🇳🇦 has told the cricketing world today… “Nam” yaad rakhna! 👏🏻
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 16, 2022
With the size of this victory, Namibia will need one win in their next two qualifying matches to secure their place in the Super 12 round, while it has become a difficult task for Sri Lanka to reach the next stage of the tournament. This margin of victory is the third-biggest win for an Associate team vs a Full member team in T20Is; the previous two were by Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe in 2016.
Jan Frylinck was named the Player of the Match for his terrific all-round performance: 44 off 28 with the bat follwed by 2/26 with the ball.
Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus was effusive in praise of the spirit of his side, that had qualified for the Super 12 in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. Erasmus lauded the efforts of the head coach given the scant resources at his disposal.
“Incredible journey, last year was a special experience for us. We’ve started a great win, but lot of work to do throughout this tournament still. It’s been a historic day for us. The opening day has been quite special but we want to kick on from here and qualify for the Super 12 stage. We understand the bigger picture as well. Credit goes to Pierre (de Bruyn) the way he has installed coaching to this team, one that’s a winning culture and one that sticks together. With the limited resources, I don’t think there’s anyone else that could run such a tight ship,” Gerhard Erasmus said.
