Indian captain Rohit Sharma reckons it was a near-perfect win for them after they defeated the Netherlands by 56 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday in their second match of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The Men in Blue posted a par score of 179 runs on the board after Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first. KL Rahul was dismissed LBW after scoring nine runs but Rohit Sharma got back into form as he scored 53 runs.
Virat Kohli continued his rich form as he went on to score another half-century. However, it was Suryakumar Yadav who provided the much-needed impetus as he smashed a blistering knock of 51 runs off just 25 balls.
Kohli and Yadav stitched a fine alliance of 95 runs off just 48 balls as India was able to post a decent score on the board despite a slow start in the PowerPlay overs (32-1).
On the other hand, the Indian bowlers were right on the money. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled two maiden overs and also dismissed Vikramjit Singh in his opening spell. Axar Patel, who had a poor game against Pakistan, then picked two more wickets to push the Dutch on the backfoot.
Ravichandran Ashwin then got two wickets in the 13th over and the Netherlands kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh also ended with two wickets while Shami took one scalp.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was not particularly happy with his fifty but felt satisfied to get back amongst the runs.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “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. 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. 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.”
India will next on South Africa at the Perth Stadium, Perth on Sunday.
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