Bangladesh warned as Netherlands stun Sri Lanka in warm-up

The Netherlands stunned former champions Sri Lanka with a 20-run victory in their first warm-up match of the T20 World Cup in Lauderhill on Tuesday, firing warning to their opponents in the upcoming mega event.

Opener Michael Levitt blasted a 28-ball 55 before retiring and captain Scott Edwards whipped the Lankan bowlers during his 27 runs off 12 balls as the Netherlands piled up 181 for five. In reply, Sri Lanka innings stopped at 161 in 18.5 overs.   

The men in orange, who will play Canada in their second and final warm-up in Dallas on Thursday, are set to square off against Nepal in their World Cup opener on June 4 before they take on South Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka -- in that order -- in Group D.

With the presence of Test-playing nations in Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Bangladesh in their group, the Netherlands will have their work cut out for them to advance to the next round, the Super 8s, on the virtue of being on the top two sides.

However, Edwards and Co, having defeated Sri Lanka (a side who have won all three T20Is against them), will also not have any shortage of inspiration before they take on South Africa (who they eliminated in the last T20 World Cup in 2022) and Bangladesh (who they defeated in last year's ODI World Cup).  

Bangladesh -- who start their World Cup campaign by taking on Sri Lanka -- cannot assume they'd be victorious over Netherlands in their third fixture despite being the superior side on paper, especially given the fact that the Tigers lost a recent T20I series against lowly-ranked USA and saw their World Cup warm-up fixture against the same oppositions washed out, while the Dutch have generated crucial momentum ahead of the marquee event.