Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav show knocks Netherlands down as India cruise to 56-run win; go 2 in 2 at T20 World Cup

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav got contrasting fifties before the bowlers comfortably defended 179 to defeat the Dutch in their second group league match.

The batting wasn’t as mighty as anticipated. But three - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav - out of the top-four batters got contrasting fifties before India’s bowlers comfortably defended 179 to defeat the Netherlands by 56 runs in their second group league match of the T20 World Cup here on Thursday and bag full points in an increasingly unpredictable World Cup for different reasons. Barring Hardik Pandya, who bowled just one over, every bowler got at least one wicket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started off with two maidens before India’s spinners choked the life out of Netherlands' innings as they barely managed to hold on to the last wicket. Currently topping Group 2 India need one more win against South Africa in Perth to almost book a semi-final berth.

Virat Kohli (L) and Suryakumar Yadav (AP)

The Netherlands didn’t do too badly considering India had chosen to bat. That the occasion had definitely got to them was evident in the way Tim Pringle dropped Rohit Sharma in the fifth over. Sharma couldn’t resist pulling a short of length delivery as he miscued it over mid-on, prompting Pringle to run back and hold it but the ball spilled out of his hands. By then, KL Rahul had gone back after missing a flick, with the ball angling in to hit him on his front pad. Kohli joined Sharma and both got down to rebuild the innings against some decent Dutch bowling. The recovery was slow, but India didn’t seem to mind because they knew when to turn on the heat.

The acceleration was so quick, it caught the Netherlands by surprise. Scoring just 100 off the first 80 balls, India compiled 79 off the next 40 balls, predominantly because of Yadav’s 25-ball 51. Yadav joined after Sharma, trying to clear the longer boundary, hit straight to deep midwicket. Yadav nudged a single towards the sweeper cover, stole two off the next ball before showing off his range. He first took on Paul van Meekeren in the next over, shuffling across the stumps to whip a 141 kph ball over backward square-leg for a boundary before crunching a beautiful cover drive for another four. Bas de Leede, one of the more promising Dutch allrounders, was lifted over extra cover for four too. De Leede went fuller but Yadav made room by backing away and thumped it through covers for another four.

Once Yadav started finding gaps that the Dutch didn’t know existed, they started floundering. The bowling wasn’t pedestrian but it didn’t challenge India. Kohli and Yadav pretty much batted at their own ease, scored unbeaten fifties and added 95 runs in eight overs. 179 seemed par for the pitch even though South Africa had just hammered Bangladesh - a much better bowling side - for 205 in the earlier game here. Yadav too said the two-paced nature of the track could make run-scoring difficult.

Enter Bhuvneshwar Kumar who started with a maiden over before toppling over Netherlands opener Vikramjit Singh’s stumps with a short of good length ball that he tried to heave across the line. Two maidens from Kumar, one over each from Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami and India were ready to test the Netherlands’ innings with spin. Second ball of his first over and opener Max ODowd was hit flush on his pads trying to sweep Patel’s 97 kph full pitched delivery. Two more overs from Shami and Hardik Pandya and India were jamming the brakes on the Netherlands with spin from both ends.

Patel could have had two in two overs had Dinesh Karthik not failed to collect the ball after Colin Ackermann gave him the charge and missed it completely. But Patel couldn’t be kept out of action for long. He again resorted to a tossed-up delivery that de Leede tried to cut but couldn’t clear Pandya at backward point. If the Netherlands started slowly - scoring just 27 in their Powerplay - India slowed them even more in the next four overs, conceding just 24 runs. The Netherlands were under the pump, needing 129 off 60 balls. But Patel and Ashwin, bowling in tandem, quickly exposed the gap between the two sides. Between them, India conceded just 39 runs and took four wickets.

By the time they were done, Netherlands were 81/5, needing 99 off the last five overs. The end was quick. Shami got his slower ball to hoodwink Pringle - who hit 20 off 15 - into chipping him to Kohli at mid-off. Kumar got Dutch captain Scott Edwards to miscue a wild swing off his leg-cutter, prompting substitute Deepak Hooda to hare in from across mid-off to take the catch. Arshdeep almost got a hattrick but Paul van Meekeren dug out his yorker before hitting three consecutive boundaries to help Netherlands end on 123/9.