Shreyas, Rahul light up Bengaluru in glory as Team India beat Netherlands by 160 runs on Diwali Photograph:(Twitter)
The Indian team took the occasion of Diwali to add more colour to their impressive form as they dismantled the Dutch on all fronts. Tasked to chase a mammoth 411, the Netherlands were reduced to 250 in 47.5 overs which India won the one-sided contest. Sybrand Engelbrecht (45) and Teja Nidamanuru (54) got starts for the Dutch while Max ODowd (30) and Colin Ackermann (35) also had a role to play but was not enough to avoid the big defeat.
After an impressive spell with the bats of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, India got the better of the Dutch by 160 runs as they now set their eyes on the semifinal clash against New Zealand in the repeat of the 2019 edition last four contests. The defeat for Netherlands also meant they failed to finish in the top seven of the ODI World Cup league stage thus handing England an automatic berth in the 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy.
For India Mohammed Siraj ended with figures of 29/2 while there were wickets for Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah as well. Interestingly, Virat Kohli also scalped his first ODI wicket in nine years as he too rolled the arms along with Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill for India. Skipper Rohit Sharma also had a wicket to celebrate on a famous day.
What happened in India’s innings?
Earlier, India opted to bat first having won the toss in Bengaluru, skipper Rohit (61) and Shubman Gill (51), gave India a perfect start as they gave a 100-run stand for the opening wicket. After Gill’s departure, Virat Kohli (51) joined the party as the Indian batters continued to impress before their New Zealand showdown in the ODI World Cup semifinal on Wednesday.