South Africa will find it hard to get rid of the “chokers tag” after the Netherlands pulled off a heist with a 38-run victory in their World Cup match at the Dharamsala Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

This was Netherlands’s second win over South Africa in ICC tournaments in the last 12 months, as the Dutch had knocked the Proteas out of the T20 World Cup 2022 with a stunning 13-run win on November 6, 2022, in Adelaide. The Netherlands also became the only non-Test-playing nation to beat the Proteas in both the white-ball formats.

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Chasing 246 to win from a rain-reduced 43 overs after captain Scott Edwards made a crucial unbeaten 78, South Africa, one of the tournament favourites, were bowled out for 207 in the shadow of the Himalayas. The loss to the minnows, halted South Africa’s perfect run.

After the encounter, captain Bavuma said that they had the Dutch batters on the mat in the first innings, but they had loosened their hold.

“From having the Dutch batters at 112 for 6, we shouldn’t have allowed them to go past 200,” Bavuma had said after the match.

But it was in the second innings of the game that South Africa were particularly found out. And Bavuma came in for a severe lashing from former players.

Former head coach Ryan Campbell had a befitting reply for the ones who did not believe in the Netherlands before the World Cup 2023. Campbell took over as the Netherlands’ head coach in January 2017, and had to step aside in May 2022, after he had to be hospitalised following a cardiac arrest.

Ryan Cook replaced Campbell after that.

After one of the biggest upsets of the ongoing edition of the World Cup, Campbell silenced the critics of Netherlands cricket with a befitting reply.

“For any cricket fans out there who still don’t want “Little Guys” at the @cricketworldcup, I hope you enjoyed today,” Campbell took to X (formerly Twitter).

Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik went one step ahead, saying a captain’s responsibility doesn’t end with setting the field.

“There were just two fielders outside the circle, so he should have started hitting the bowling from the first ball. A captain’s responsibility is not just to set the field when the team is bowling,” said Malik.

Another former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram lashed out at South Africa’s timid approach, and said, “South Africa’s captain… in the first four overs where you needed at least six runs an over, he was playing everything on the backfoot. And that too when there was an off-spinner (Aryan Dutt) bowling.”