IND v NED, World Cup 2023: Invincible India hammer Netherlands by 160 runs in cracking Diwali show

India came up with another intimidating show with both bat and ball as they outclassed the Netherlands by 160 runs in their final league game of World Cup 2023.

On Diwali, the stands at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium were packed to the rafters and the crowd enjoyed the fireworks from the Indian batters before the bowlers came up with a clinical show on a good batting pitch in Bengaluru.

With the big win on the festival day, India became the first team to go unbeaten in the league stage of a World Cup featuring a single round-robin format. Rohit Sharma’s men made a statement of intent with 9 wins on the trot before they head to Mumbai to take on New Zealand in the first semi-final on Wednesday.

India promised no dip in intensity ahead of their final league match and the hunger to make it 9 out of 9 was on display in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Riding on Shreyas Iyer’s 128 not out and KL Rahul’s 62-ball hundred, India posted their second-biggest World Cup total – 410. There was no stopping the show of aggression from the Indian batters as they scripted a new World Cup record. For the first time in the history of the tournament, all batters in the top 5 of an innings hit at least a fifty as India made the most of the early advantage of winning the toss and opting to bat on a batter-friendly surface.

India faced one of their tougher challenges with the ball as the spirited Netherlands, who impressed with wins over South Africa and Bangladesh, came up with a respectable batting show, posting 250 in 47.5 overs.

Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav picked up 2 wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah contributed with a double scalp. In a double delight for fans on the festival day, Virat Kohli hit 51 and rolled his arm ver, picking up a wicket, his first in World Cups as he got the opposition captain Scott Edwards.

Rohit Sharma also tried his hand at bowling and got the final wicket to finish things off on Diwali.

The Netherlands lost the wicket of Wesley Berresi as early as the 2nd over as Mohammed Siraj steamed in and produced an outside edge. It looked like India would roll over another team after having bundled out Sri Lanka for 55 and South Africa for 83 earlier in the World Cup.

GOOD FIGHT FROM NETHERLANDS

However, the Netherlands put up a fight with the bat on a helpful pitch. Max O’Dowd and Colin Ackermann added 61 runs for the 2nd wicket at a good click as Netherlands posted the highest powerplay score of the tournament against the relentless Indian attack.

However, the breakthrough came when Kuldeep Yadav removed Ackermann out LBW for 35. Max O’Dowd was not able to make good use of a dropped catch as he fell to Ravindra Jadeja in the first delivery of the left-arm spinner’s spell.

Rohit Sharma had to turn to his part-time bowlers, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Suyrakumar Yadav, as Mohammed Siraj needed a concussion test after he was hit on his throat following the dropped catch of O’Dowd.

Against the run of play, Virat Kohli got the wicket of Edwards with a harmless delivery that drifted down the leg side. The Bengaluru crowd erupted in joy and Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma was thrilled after the wicket.

Sybrand Engelbrecht and Teja Nidamunuru continued the defiant batting display but the Indian spinners and Siraj kept picking wickets at regular intervals before it all came to an end in the 48th over.

Incidentally, Rohit Sharma also picked up a wicket, that of the half-centurion Nidamunuru, as India bundled out the Netherlands for 250.

RECORD-BREAKING BATTING SHOW

Like he has done so many times in the World Cup, Rohit Sharma came out all guns firing with the bat as he set the tone for India after winning the toss and opting to bat.

Rohit Sharma hit 61 and also set the record for most sixes by a captain in World Cups, taking his tally past 28 in 2023.

Roht and Gill added 100 runs in just 11.5 overs but both the batters failed to convert their fifties into big knocks.

Virat Kohli looked scratchy with the bat at the start but he carried on and got to his 71st ODI fifty. Kohli did not look fluent at the start but he did not throw it away until he missed a late cut against left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe.

It was Shreyas Iyer’s time to convert his starts into a big knock and he did so with ease as he hit 128 off just 94 balls. Iyer never took the pedal off the accelerator in a dominant batting show. Iyer handled the short-balls well and played exceptionally against spin, becoming the first No. 4 batter for India since Yuvraj Singh in 2011 to hit a World Cup hundred.

Toward the end of the innings, there was more joy for the Bengaluru crowd as local boy KL Rahul hit a 62-ball hundred, the fastest by an India player in World Cups.

It was a perfect all-round show from india ahead of the big test – a repeat of the 2019 semi-finals against New Zealand in a couple of day’s time.