T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 2, IND v NED: SKY’s 51*, Kohli’s 62* drive India to 2nd win & top of Group 2

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 2, India vs Netherlands: Virat Kohli's 62, Suryakumar Yadav's 51 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar-Axar Patel's 2-fers are top performances as India beat Netherlands by 56 runs in Super 12s game. India top Group 2 points table.

Kohli-Surya added 95 off 48 for 3rd wicket (Photo: ©AFP/Getty Images)

Brief Scores: India 179/2 (Kohli 62*, Rohit 53, Suryakumar Yadav 51*, Klaassen 1/33) beat Netherlands 123/9 (Pringle 20, Bhuvneshwar 2/9, Axar 2/18) by 56 runs

Player of the Match: Suryakumar Yadav (Unbeaten 51 runs in 25 balls)

Fresh from their last over victory over Pakistan thanks to a masterclass knock by Virat Kohli, India locked horns with Netherlands who lost their opening encounter against Bangladesh by a narrow margin. The fifth Group 2 game of the Super 12 stage of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on Thursday.

Both sides met each other for the very first time in this format. However, India have beaten Netherlands in each of their two meetings at the 50-over World Cups in 2003 and 2011, and coincidentally made it to the finals of each of those tournaments.

Rahul’s form concerns India as bowlers and batters find decent game time

Although India have won two back-to-back games, the current struggle of their opener KL Rahul has been a real concern for them who hasn’t got many runs of late. However, the shining part is getting Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suryakaumar Yadav among runs.

The bowlers too got ample game time in the middle. The likes of Mohammed Shami who hasn’t got enough preparation coming into this T20 World Cup, bowled with full intensity and rhythm while Axar Patel after a tough one over against Pakistan made a good comeback with ball in hand.

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Clinical all-round performances from India provide them back-to-back win

India captain Rohit Sharma on winning the toss decided to bat first on a used track which was expected to get slower as the game would progress. Both sides went into this game with an unchanged eleven.

India lost opener KL Rahul early to stroll in the powerplay to 32/1, before reaching 67/1 in the 10 overs as captain Rohit Sharma notched up a scratchy half-century. Later, an unbeaten 95-run stand between Virat Kohli (62* in 44 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (51* in 25 balls) propelled India to 179/2 in their 20 overs with 65 runs coming in the last five overs.

Chasing a huge score of 180, Netherlands were never in the chase with just 27/2 in the powerplay and struggled to 51/3 in 10 overs. The Indian bowling was top class as the opponents kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Finally, they could reach to 123/9, handing India a 56-run victory.

Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between India and Netherlands from ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

Suryakumar Yadav scored 51 off 25 against Netherlands (Photo: ©AFP)

Another splendid 62* from Virat Kohli fired India at the back end

In India’s last game against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), their run-machine Virat Kohli almost single handedly snatched the game from the jaws of the opponents to break millions of Pakistan hearts. And he carried his purple form in this game against Netherlands too.

When he walked out to bat early in the third over, India were struggling to score freely and again like his last innings, he took time to get settled with singles and doubles to reach 19 in 21 balls. This time Rohit Sharma took the pressure off Kohli’s back with his fighting 39-ball 53 before being dismissed.

Kohli collected his first boundary using his feet to smack Tim Pringle straight back, before smashing Bas de Leede square of the short fine leg fielder for a huge six. Suryakumar Yadav was toying with the bowlers as Kohli was giving him the strike regularly.

He lofted Fred Klaassen over mid-off for a four before carving the next ball over deep extra cover for a six to celebrate his 35th T20I fifty in just 36 balls. With a six flicked over the deep backward square leg region, Kohli finished with 62* in 44 balls with three boundaries and couple of sixes.

Kohli now has four fifty plus scores in five T20Is in Sydney, while he has 989 runs at an average of 89.90 in 21 innings with 12 fifties in T20 World Cups going past Chris Gayle (965 runs) to be the second highest run-getter in this tournament, only behind Mahela Jayawardene (1016 runs). Kohli now has 3856 T20I runs in 111 games for India.

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Suryakumar Yadav scored 51 off 25 against Netherlands (Photo: ©AFP)

Suryakumar Yadav with 51* offers India much needed momentum

Even though Virat Kohli was still in the middle with captain Rohit Sharma back in the hut with a half-century, India lacked the much important momentum to record a winning total in the end.

Suryakumar Yadav has been in excellent form this year and he began with two back-to-back boundaries against Paul van Meekeren; one was whipped over backward square leg while the next ball was driven through the covers. He flicked Logan van Beek over backward square leg for a boundary before elevating a length ball from Bas de Leede over extra cover for another boundary.

He thumped Logan van Beek over the bowler’s head for another boundary before finishing the innings with a fabulous six being flicked away powerfully over backward square leg as Suryakumar Yadav deposited his 10th T20I half-century. He became the first player to register five T20I fifty-plus scores at a 200+ strike rate in the same year. He now has 1111 T20I runs in 36 games at a strike rate of 177.48.

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Bhuvi took 2-9 for India and bowled two maiden overs (Photo: ©BCCI/Twitter)

Axar & Bhuvneshwar broke Netherlands back with 4/27

Defending a substantial total of 180, India needed couple of early wickets just to push themselves and their new ball bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar partnered with spinner Axar Patel to break the back of Netherlands.

Bhuvneshwar began with a maiden over keeping it tight against Vikramjit Singh, before removing him on 1 with a short ball to which the batter got an inside edge to see his off-stump disturbed. Bhuvneshwar finished the powerplay with another maiden over; he touched the same feat in Asia Cup 2016 against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Axar Patel was blown away in his only over against Pakistan but he made a good return in this game. On his very second delivery, Axar with a full and quick delivery broke the furniture of Max O’Dowd on 16. In his third over, he sent back Bas de Leede on 16 who in trying to cut loose, found Hardik Pandya at the backward point region. Axar Patel who now has 33 wickets in 34 T20Is returned figures of 2/18 in his over fours.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming back for his third over in the 17th over of the innings, deposited the wicket of opponent captain Scott Edwards on 5 who sliced a slower ball straight to the mid-off fielder. Bhuvneshwar who finished with 2/9 in three overs, now has 88 T20I wickets in 81 games.

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ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 Points Table

Group 2 Points Table

Points Table Scenario & What’s Next

India moved up to the top spot with four points and a net run rate (NRR) of 1.425 while South Africa stand at the number two position with three points and a massive NRR of 5.200.

Top Twitter Reactions from India vs Netherlands, Super 12, Sydney, T20 World Cup 2022

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