WATCH: Van Der Merwe Shows Excellent Spirit; Plays In Pain To Avoid A Heavy NRR Loss For Netherlands

In the 9th match of the T20 World Cup 2022, Sri Lanka defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs to win their second match of the tournament. The match went down to the last over but a heart-wrenching sight was witnessed at the end. Even though Sri Lanka won the match, this game would be remembered more for Netherlands' 37-year-old bowler Roelof van der Merwe. During the match, van der Merwe sustained grave pain in his back and wasn't even to walk the ground properly. Despite all this, he got down to the ground and was caught on camera struggling for each run. 

This incident happened in the 19th and 20th over of Netherlands' inning. The Dutch team had already lost 9 wickets and only van der Merwe was left to stand the crease with opener Max O'Dowd. Merwe was injured and wasn't even able to walk properly, and still decided to come out to bat for his team. 

Merwe came onto the ground and completed singles in time of need, still struggling with back pain. Merwe was on strike on the 4th delivery of the over and missed the ball while trying to pull for a boundary. After this, he started running to give O'Dowd the strike and the pain was clearly visible on his face and could be seen flinching in pain.