As a result of a crushing 56-run victory over the Netherlands in their second Super 12 match of the Men's T20 World Cup on Wednesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, half-centuries from India's captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav enabled India to move to the top of Group 2 on the points table.
India struggled to get loose on a two-paced field because the Netherlands were limiting the scoring rate. However, a 73-run stand for the second wicket was shared by Kohli (62 not out off 44 balls) and Rohit (53 off 39 balls).
With his 360-degree batting approach, Suryakumar (51 not out off 25 balls) altered the pace of the innings, and he and Kohli enjoyed an incredible 95-run third-wicket stand off 48 deliveries as India scored a difficult 179/2 in 20 overs.
India's NRR increased from +0.05 to +1.43 as a result of the bowlers' outstanding effort to restrict the Netherlands to 123/9 in 20 overs.
K.L. Rahul, who chose to bat first, was out by a late inswinger from Paul van Meekeren despite the fact that replays afterwards revealed the ball would have missed striking leg-stump. India had trouble with fluency and timing as a result of the Netherlands' ability to make the ball swing both ways.
Rohit Sharma wasn't at his best, despite pulling van Meekeren for a six over a deep square leg and nailing a square cut over the off-side for a four. He was extremely fortunate to have Tim Pringle drop a mishandled pull off Klaassen in the fifth over and have his uppish flip off van Meekeren fall just in front of him again at short fine leg in the following over.
Rohit broke loose by pulling Logan van Beek for a six over wide long-on as Kohli struggled to find boundaries. The very next ball, he successfully fought off a lbw appeal, thus good fortune smiled upon him once more.
After that, Rohit rediscovered his rhythm and upbeatly cut Bas de Leede through the backward point for four, then the top-edge off the pull for a six, resulting in straight boundaries. To reach his fifty in 35 balls, he then smashed Pringle for back-to-back fours through leg-side. But in the subsequent over, he was swiped across the line by Klaassen and caught at deep mid-wicket.
When Suryakumar arrived, India was inundated. He made effective use of the crease and displayed flawless wrist action to hit three fours in his first seven balls. By hitting consecutive fours off of de Leede in the sixteenth over, he increased the stakes.
De Leede was lofted over short fine leg by Kohli, who then added four more when he lofted Klaassen over mid-off in the 17th over. With a perfectly executed loft over extra cover for six and the completion of his second consecutive fifty in 37 balls, he thrilled the audience.
India scored 112 runs off the final ten overs thanks in part to Suryakumar Yadav, who hit two wonderful fours before finishing the innings with a gorgeous flicked six over deep square-leg off Logan van Beek. Suryakumar reached fifty in just 25 balls.
In response, Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept things tight in Power-play with a string of maidens and clean-bowled a struggling Vikramjit Singh, so the Netherlands' chase never really got going. In order to earn his first two fours, Max O'Dowd timed his square drives off Arshdeep Singh well. He then flicked Mohammed Shami through square leg to get his third four.
He stepped over to sweep, but Axar Patel rattled his middle stump with a straight delivery, ending his promising spell at the crease. When Patel forced de Leede to reach for the ball outside the off-stump and sliced it straight to point, he added another wicket to his tally.
In the 13th over, Ravichandran Ashwin struck twice. Colin Ackermann holed out to deep midwicket, then Tom Cooper swiped straight to deep square-leg four balls later.
Ashwin was dispatched over long-on for six runs, and Pringle flicked Arshdeep for four runs during his cameo of 20 off 15 balls. Shami, however, got a leading edge off of his flick and was caught on mid-off.
By misplaying a slower ball to mid-off, skipper Scott Edwards gave Bhuvneshwar his second wicket. When van Beek failed to draw a bouncer in time and was caught behind, Arshdeep joined the group of wicket-takers.
He ended the 18th over by trapping Klaassen lbw with a fantastic yorker and getting the DRS in his favour. Though Arshdeep was hit by van Meekeren for a hat-trick of fours in the last three balls of the innings, the result was a foregone conclusion by then.
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) beat Netherlands 123/9 in 20 overs (Tim Pringle 20, Colin Ackermann 17; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/9, Axar Patel 2/18) by 56 runs