India lost KL Rahul cheaply, trapped lbw by Paul van Meekeren for 9. He could have got the decision overturned as the ball was missing the stumps, but decided against taking the DRS. Following Rahul’s early exit, skipper Rohit Sharma (53 off 39) and Virat Kohli (62* off 44) added 73 runs for the second-wicket partnership.
Rohit took early charge, hitting four fours and three sixes, in the process also going past Yuvraj Singh’s record of most sixes by an Indian in the T20 World Cup. He now has 34, while Yuvraj hit 33. The Indian captain fell immediately after completing his half-century, as he tried to take on Fred Klaassen.
Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav (51* off 25) then continued India’s charge with the bat. The duo, who love batting with each other, added an unbroken 95 runs for the third wicket. While Kohli struck three fours and two sixes, SKY slammed seven fours and a six.
Chasing 180, Netherlands lost Vikramjit Singh for 1 as he was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 1. The Indian pacer’s first two overs were maidens. Axar Patel then took out Max O’Dowd (16) and Bas de Leede (16) as the Dutch crumbled to 47 for 3 in the 10th over.
Ravichandran Ashwin joined the fun by dismissing Colin Ackermann (17) and Tom Cooper (9) in the same over. Mohammed Shami ended Tim Pringle’s cameo on 20, while Arshdeep Singh helped himself to the wickets of Logan van Beek (3) and Fred Klaassen (0). Paul van Meekeren’s unbeaten 14 took Netherlands to 123 for 9 in their 20 overs.
Discussing the victory at the post-match presentation, Indian captain Rohid said, “I thought it was a clinical win. Yes, we played a little slow at the start but that was the conversation between me and Virat, we had to wait on that surface to play the big shots. Not too happy with my fifty, but what's important is getting runs - doesn't matter if they are good looking runs or ugly runs. At the end of the day, it is about keeping the confidence up.”
--By A Cricket Correspondent