Kohli scores again as India defeats Dutch at T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli scored his second consecutive unbeaten half century. India beat the Netherlands by 56 runs on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground to improve to 2-0 in the T20 World Cup.
India’s batting order was bolstered by 50s from captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. They cruised to a respectable 179-2 before limiting the Dutch to 123-9 and taking up first place in Group 2 from South Africa.
Kohli’s 62 off 44 balls had only three fours and two sixes (the first when he went inside out over the covers to bring up his 50). But it was full of exquisite touches and brought his total for the two games to 144.
Kohli scores again as India defeats Dutch at T20 World Cup
The crowd in Sydney was nearly completely made up of Indian fans. While the night lacked the spectacular drama of their Super 12 opener against Pakistan in Melbourne on Sunday, it still had a festive mood.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, India managed only 32 runs in the powerplay. Because the Dutch bowlers did a fantastic job of restricting the batsmen and took out opener KL Rahul for a low price.
Rohit was the first to speed things up, scoring 53 off of 39 balls before holing out and allowing Kohli. He was applauded to the rafters on every ball he faced to seize the batting lead for the rest of the innings.
Suryakumar joined in from the other end, scoring 51 not out off just 25 balls. And the 32-year-old righthander closed the innings in fine fashion with a leg flick for six. India’s seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-9) was emblematic of their intent. He dismissed Vikramjit Singh in one of his two powerplay maidens.
The other Dutch opener, Max O’Dowd, was clean bowled for 16 by spinner Axar Patel (2-18) on his second delivery. Ravichandran Ashwin and Arshdeep Singh also contributed with two wickets apiece.
After a valiant effort, the Dutch could not overcome India’s disciplined bowling in their debut game of this format. Tim Pringle scored a total of 20 runs. (Nick Mulvenney reported, and Mitch Phillips edited.)
Statement
“The message was loud and clear when I went into bat, we had to get about 8-10 an over and get a total that our bowlers could defend easily. I’m very happy with the way things went,” said Suryakumar, who shared a partnership of 95 with Kohli.
“I’m really enjoying batting with (Kohli), I think the thoughts are very clear when we are playing together.”
