Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav smashed half centuries to set up India for a 56-run win over the Netherlands and move to the top of Group 2 points table in their second Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Netherlands bowled well in the early stages as India struggled to break free on a two-paced pitch before Rohit (53 off 39 balls) and Kohli (62 not out off 44 balls) put together a 73-run stand for the second wicket.
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Suryakumar (51 not out off 25 balls) came in and completely changed the tempo of the innings with his 360-degree batting while sharing a 95-run stand off only 48 deliveries with Kohli for the third wicket for India to post an intimidating 179/2 in 20 overs.
In reply, the bowlers produced a top-class performance to restrict the Netherlands to 123/9 in 20 overs, as India’s NRR jumped from +0.05 to +1.43.
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Electing to bat first, K.L Rahul was trapped lbw by a late inswinger from Paul van Meekeren though replays later showed the ball would have missed hitting leg-stump. With the Netherlands getting the ball to swing both ways, India struggled for fluency and timing. However, the top order delivered, plundering sixes and fours as the Men in Blue displayed sheer batting dominance.
In reply, the Netherlands couldn’t really get going with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar keeping things tight during the Power-play, bowling successive maidens while dismissing Vikramjit Singh. Max O’Dowd began with nicely timed square drives to hit a couple of boundaries but his stay at the crease came to an end when he moved across to sweep, only for Axar Patel to rattle his middle stump. Patel then made de Leede reach outside the off-stump ball and slice to point.
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Later, Ashwin struck twice in the 13th over – Colin Ackermann holed out to deep mid-wicket while Tom Cooper swept to deep square-leg. Pringle hit a cameo of 20 off 15 balls, but Shami found a leading edge off his flick for him to be caught at mid-off.
Bhuvneshwar dismissed captain Scott Edwards with a slower ball before Arshdeep joined in to take the wicket of van Beek. Arshdeep completed the 18th over by trapping Klaassen lbw with a beautiful yorker.
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Brief Scores
India 179/2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 62 not out, Rohit Sharma 53; Paul van Meekeren 1/32, Fred Klaassen 1/33)
Netherlands 123/9 in 20 overs (Tim Pringle 20, Colin Ackermann 17; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/9, Axar Patel 2/18)
