India win their ninth successive contest in CWC23
India were helped to their highest score of the tournament by their batters before the bowlers did a clinical job in the second innings.
The Netherlands put up a spirited display with the bat, but never quite came close to overhauling the mammoth target of 411 that had been set by India. Among the wicket-takers for India were Virat Kohli, who struck with his medium pace in the 25th over, and Rohit Sharma, who dismissed Teja Nidamanuru with his off-spin.
In the first innings, India went close to seven runs an over for most of their innings, before picking pace in the final Powerplay.
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul added 208 runs in 128 balls for the fifth wicket. Both of them ended with centuries of their own.
India tried out a number of part-time options against Netherlands.
The Netherlands started positively despite the overwhelming target. They lost Wesley Barresi quite early, who nicked one behind the wicket off Mohammed Siraj. However, Colin Ackermann took charge, playing a number of exquisite strokes down the ground. He also got good support from Max O'Dowd.
Max O'Dowd and Colin Ackermann stabilised Netherlands after an early loss.
Netherlands hit 10 boundaries in this period. But the Dutch joy was short-lived, as Kuldeep Yadav struck soon after introduction, trapping Ackermann leg before wicket. The Netherlands batters appeared clueless before the slow left-arm unorthodox spin of Kuldeep and found it tough to get away from him.
To make things worse, Ravindra Jadeja struck off his very first ball and proved an equally tough proposition for the Dutch batters.
Virat Kohli accounted for Scott Edwards.
Eventually, Rohit Sharma brought in Virat Kohli to rest his mainstream bowlers. And the star batter managed to strike with the ball, for just his fifth ODI wicket. He accounted for the Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards.
With an overwhelming target ahead of them, the game was all but over for the Dutch, but Rohit took this opportunity to try out his other part-time options, such as Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav.
India's top five batters all scored in excess of fifty, with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul going on to garner centuries.
India openers were off to a characteristic aggressive start on a decent batting track in Bengaluru. No bowler was spared as 15 boundaries came in the first Powerplay.
Rohit's 61 came off 54 balls. It included eight fours and two sixes.
Particularly impressive was Shubman Gill's six-hitting prowess, as the young batter managed to outdo his skipper and hit four sixes in the first 10 overs as compared to Rohit's one. However, the latter made up for it by unleashing seven fours in that period.
The duo helped India reach 100 by the 12th over and looked all set for big scores. However, Gill fell to an impressive catch from Teja Nidamanuru.
Teja Nidamanuru sent back Shubman Gill with an excellent catch.
While newcomer Virat Kohli struggled to adjust to the variations of the Dutch bowlers, Rohit remained his free-flowing self and reached his 50 in the 14th over.
However, he played an ambitious pull against Bas de Leede and ended up losing his wicket after it ballooned towards the wide long-on and was taken by Wesley Barresi. With this wicket, de Leede became the most successful Dutch bowler in the Cricket World Cup with 15 scalps to his name. He overtook his father, Tim de Leede, to achieve this landmark.
Shubman Gill hit four sixes during his fifty.
After getting set, Kohli took on the bowlers. He unleashed some interesting shots, including a bottom-handed six against Logan van Beek and even the sweep to get some of his boundaries.
Having completed his half-century in the 28th over, Kohli seemed to be gearing up for a record 50th ton. But that was not to be the case as Roelof van der Merwe crashed into his stumps with his left-arm spin.
Virat Kohli was among runs yet again.
But as if following a pattern, India kept going at a healthy rate as the set Shreyas Iyer took charge with KL Rahul providing him good support. Iyer reached his fifty with a classic cover drive in the 34th over. This was the first time that top four batters had reached the scores of fifty-plus in an innings of a Cricket World Cup encounter.
This number became five in the 43rd over when Rahul hit his 17th ODI fifty. Having done the hard work during the middle overs, the duo opened their arms in the death and picked up the scoring rate even further. 44th over marked that change, as both batters unleashed big sixes.
Shreyas Iyer hit 128* in Bengaluru.
Iyer reached his maiden Cricket World Cup ton in the 46th over. Rahul reached a century of his own on the back of consecutive sixes in the 50th over. The hundred took 62 balls. This was the fastest World Cup century by an India batter.
KL Rahul's hundred came off merely 62 balls.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Both sides were unchanged ahead of the final group clash in the Cricket World Cup.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Netherlands: Max O'Dowd, Wesley Barresi, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (c) (wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
Netherlands players look back on their two victories and many long-lasting memories made at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023