Clinical India tops the Group 2 table with a massive 56-run win

Clinical India tops the Group 2 table with a massive 56-run win: The 23rd match of the T20 World Cup 2022 saw India face off against the Netherlands at the SCG. It looked like a high-scoring game considering the results of the previous match at the venue, but the Indian batsmen struggled in the beginning. Nevertheless, the Men in Blue dominated the show with an impressive 56-run victory.

As India set up for a big total after half-centuries from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav, the bowlers put on a combined clinical display to derail the Netherlands' chase before they were eventually bundled out for 56 runs. Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets each.

India won the toss and decided to bat first. India's innings did not start as planned, as opener KL Rahul was dismissed too early in the powerplay after scoring just nine runs off 12 balls. Had he taken the review, the umpire would have reversed his decision but due to not doing so, Netherlands got the first success. Adding 73 runs for the second wicket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stabilized the innings but they could not maintain the high run rate and struggled to score runs.

Captain Rohit Sharma (53 off 39) also scored a half-century and was dismissed by Fred Klaasen. What happened after that was a Virat Kohli-Suryakumar Yadav special. Batting for the remaining eight overs, the duo added 95 runs for the third wicket partnership. They got their respective fifties on their way to take India towards the winning total till the end. Kohli (62* off 44) completed his half-century in the 17th over, and Yadav (51* off 25) ended the innings with a last-ball six and completed his half-century as India set a target of 180.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with a maiden in the first over, sets the tone - his eighth in T20Is. Max O'Dowd responded with two boundaries off Arshdeep Singh, but India stopped the chasing team with early wickets. Bhuvneshwar bowled another maiden in his second and stunned the Netherlands by dismissing Vikramjit Singh. Axar Patel came to bowl in fifth and made an immediate impact as O'Dowd was removed. The Netherlands scored 27 runs for 2 wickets in the powerplay.

Bass de Leede and Colin Ackerman then formed a partnership and tried to carry on the innings, but the Indian bowlers did not give them many chances to score. The Men in Blue continued to take wickets at regular intervals and completely dominated the second innings. While Axar Patel registered figures of 2/18 in his four-over spell, Ravichandran Ashwin registered 2/21 in his quota. Almost every bowler finished with at least one wicket, and India beat the Netherlands by 56 runs for their second consecutive win in the tournament.

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Who said What!

Scott Edwards (Netherlands captain): Definitely the noisiest (atmosphere), some of the chants that were going around made it difficult to speak to the players sometimes, but it was an awesome experience. We came here to win and put on a good performance, but against these sorts of sides you have to be on the money or they make you pay. The way those two batters played in the end and took them to 180, it was always going to be tricky.

We bowled reasonably well but if you don't get the wickets and with the batting order they have, it was always going to be tough to restrict them. It gets bigger and better, doesn't it? Looking forward to it (the Pakistan game) and hopefully we can put up a better performance.

Rohit Sharma (India captain): Lucky for us, we had a few days to get over that special win. As soon as the game got over, we came to Sydney and regrouped. We have to move on now, and the focus was on this game where we wanted to come out and get those two points. I thought it was a clinical win. Looking at the way they have qualified for the Super 12s, credit to them. We however always looked to what we can do with ourselves, not bothering about the opposition. To be honest, this was a near-perfect 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.

Brief Scores: India 179/2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 62, Rohit Sharma 53, Suryakumar Yadav 51; Paul van Meekeren 1-32) beat Netherlands 123/9 in 20 overs (Tim Pringle 20; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-9, Axar Patel 2-18, R Ashwin 2-21, Arshdeep Singh 2-37) by 56 runs.

READ: T20 World Cup 2022 Points Table: Updated Team Ranking after India vs Netherlands match

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