World Cup: Shreyas, KL Rahul shine as India defeat Netherlands by 160 runs; win all nine games in league stage

India rode on Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 128 coupled with KL Rahul's 102 to post an imposing 410/4 in their last league game against the Netherlands at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The hosts then bundled out the opposition for 250 to record a whooping 160-run win. India thus remained unbeaten in the league stage by winning all nine games. Reports Meenakshi Rao

Bengaluru (Karnataka): The India juggernaut in the ongoing Cricket World Cup continued as the Rohit Sharma-led team trounced the Netherlands by 160 runs in the last league game of the marquee tournament at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday. India thus won all their nine games and were the only team to remain unbeaten in the league stage.

Batter Shreyas Iyer (128 not out off 94 balls) and wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul (102 off 64 balls) struck magnificent centuries as India defeated Netherlands by 160 runs to finish their World Cup league engagements with a record nine wins on the trot.

The hosts first posted a mammoth 410 for four with Shreyas Iyer slamming a career-best ODI ton, while KL Rahul hit the fastest World Cup hundred by an Indian. The duo added 208 runs off 128 balls. India then bundled out the opposition for 250 as the Netherlands batters gave a better display against the fancied Indian attack. Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja all chipped in with a couple of wickets each.

India's unbeaten run has been the story of the tournament and the team on Sunday again ticked all the boxes. The batters and the bowlers played their parts to perfection as India dominated the game right from the beginning. India thus ended the league stage on the top of the points table and will now face Kane Williamson-led New Zealand in the first semi-final to be played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday, November 15.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer and his batting partner K L Rahul celebrated Diwali 2023 by scoring firecracker centuries with Rahul emerging as the fastest Indian to mount a World Cup ton in just 62 balls. Alongside Team India celebrated with the highest total of 410-4 in this World Cup and an incredible 50 plus scores by all the five batters from the top, the first time in a World Cup.

Both the tons were solid and scintillating knocks that spoke volumes about Iyer and Rahul's hunger, fitness levels, mental strength, and determination to make a mark after the two doughty players returned from injury and difficult layovers that taught them lessons in tenacity and perseverance.

KL Rahul, who has been quietly working on his game both with the bat and from behind the wicket, showed how much of variety he has in his strokes, the unsung Mr 360 degrees. He has been adding to the team totals, often eclipsed by showmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. So sound are his incredible range of shots that his runs go unnoticed – till today when he came out of the shadows to stitch a singular and individual moment of excellence.

Shreyas Iyer’s century came in 84 balls, celebrating also the 50-run partnership with KL Rahul soon after. Iyer, with whom the team management has stuck around in recognition of his innate potential with the bat and a temperament that is always close to build-ups, hit nine boundaries and four massive sixes, smacking of good match practice for the big one at the Wankhede.

The Diwali moments were many and the solid excellence of the Indian bat peeped out of the brisk pace at which the runs were made. From overs 21-31 India made 71 runs for the fall of one wicket; from 31-40, it was 73 runs. From 11-20, 49 runs with a loss of two big wickets – that of Sharma and Shubman Gill.

This was a lull from overs 1-10, when the quickfire hitting resulted in 91 runs without any wicket falling. For a brief while, Virat Kohli struggled on what looked like a slowed down pitch which eased later into the innings with the sixes going higher and longer from 79 meters to 99.

India got off to a solid start with the first 100-run partnership by openers. Both Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill marked their 50s at a brisk pace, both looking for their respective 100s in the last of the league matches before reaching Mumbai for the crucial semi-final against New Zealand. But that was not to be.

Gill, who was finally in keen nick, fell to a brilliant catch by Teja Nidamanuru after he hooked straight to deep backward square leg only to be nabbed brilliantly at an auspicious 51. That was the 12th over and the full house at Chinnaswamy stadium had settled down for a Diwali 'dhamaka' by the Hitman and his young aide.

The boundaries and the sixes were in full flow from the polished bats of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. India had made 100 runs within just 12 overs, without losing a wicket. But once Gill departed, Sharma made 15 more runs before erring on his otherwise sublime pull shot in the 18th over to be caught at wide long-on by Wesley Barresi who brought down a high-riser with a beauty of a hold despite a stumble.

As the Dutchmen nibbled unnoticed, expectations started veering around King Kohli and his record breaking 50th century and how his spiritual home ground will see him cross the frontier set by the great Sachin Tendulkar to climb to Mount 50. Again, that was not to be as in an uncharacteristic miss, Kohli swung his bat to cut Roelof Van der Merwe but lost his bails as the skidding ball hit the stumps. The event, in the 29th over, ended all the excitement around Kohli and his impending personal score mounted on five fours and a six.

The Indian show threw up a new statistic to treasure. All the top five batters scored half tons with a handsome flow to the boundary. The Iyer-Rahul show catapulted the last 10 overs of the innings onto a rocket launch of 126 runs with one wicket and one over going for 25 runs.

Shreyas Iyer was adjudged as the player of the match.

Brief Scores: India: 410 for 4 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 128 not out, KL Rahul 102; Bas de Leede 2/82) beat The Netherlands: 250 all out in 47.5 overs (Sybrand Engelbrecht 45, Teja Nidamanuru 54, Kuldeep Yadav 2/41, Ravindra Jadeja 2/49, Mohammed Siraj 2/29) by 160 runs.

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