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The troika of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav hammered a half century apiece as India thrashed Netherlands to notch back to back victories in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 on Thursday (October 27).
Riding on skipper Rohit's 53 off 39, Kohli's 62 off 44 and Suryakumar's 51 off 25 India posted a competitive total of 179/2 and then folded the comparatively minnow side to just 123/9 to top the Group 2.
India were off to a not so good start as they picked up the pace in the latter part of the innings, they were slow off the blocks and reached 53/1 in the first nine overs. It was only from the 10th over that Rohit and Co. starting showing some aggressive intent.
"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," Rohit said at the post match presentation.
"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 bother about the opposition. To be honest, this was a near perfect win."
However, Rohit was not happy with the pace of his scoring, though he reached the half-century mark in 35 balls.
"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," Rohit added.
Kohli conjured two vital partnerships -- 73 for the second wicket with Rohit and 95 for the unbroken third wicket with Surya -- as KL Rahul's (9 off 12 balls) second successive failure stuck out like a sore thumb.
But Rahul can consider himself a touch unlucky as right-arm seamer Paul van Meekeren's delivery angled into his pads and seemed like missing the leg-stump, but he was advised against taking the review by the skipper.
To be fair, the Netherlands bowlers did a reasonable job during the powerplay, when India scraped to 32 for one.
The Netherlands was the fourth team to bat on the track, and although there wasn't any considerable wear and tear, it slowed down enough for Axar Patel (2/18) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/21) to tighten the noose on the opposition batters.
On expected lines, Mohammed Shami (2/9), Arshdeep Singh (2/37) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/27) had an easy day at the office.
Team India will look to carry their winning momentum when they lock horns with South Africa on October 30.
