India Beat Netherlands To Taste Record Ninth Win In Row

India beat Netherlands by 160 runs to set a new record for themselves for the most successive wins in a single edition of a World Cup. In what was the final round-robin match of World Cup 2023, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first before posting 410/4. Each of the first five-batters scored a fifty plus score- Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul- with the last two of them- Shreyas and Rahul going on to convert them into hundreds.

In response, the Dutch were bundled out for 250 with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja all taking two wickets apiece. As India used nine bowlers, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also scalped a wicket each with Suyrakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill also rolling their arms over. Teja Nidamanuru top-scored for the Men in Orange with 54 off 39. 

“It’s a little bit of a tricky one at the moment where we want to be. We are pretty confident with the style we play. The tournament was always going to be tough. They [India] are as good a side going around. We will have to be a lot better going into theT20 World Cup next year. They showed pure class with the bat. Playing to learn with that. They soaked up the pressure. When you are three down with ten overs left, you are going to score some runs. We are a very young side. Lots of young sides in the setup. We have some training camps coming. Fixtures wide, I am not sure about that,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said at the post-match presentation.

 “Since we started the tournament, it was all about one game at a time. We never wanted to look too far ahead. It is a long tournament, 11 games in all if we go all the way. It was important to break it down and focus on it,” Indian skipper Rohit said.

India will now lock horns against New Zealand in the first semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 15 (Wednesday).