The final league match of the ongoing ICC World Cup went on expected lines with India ensuring a blemish-free run ahead of their semifinal against New Zealand. As Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul made their way back after slamming monstrous centuries to propel India to a mammoth 410 for 4, the writing was on the wall for the Netherlands, but the only Associate nation in this edition of the tournament came up with an inspiring batting show before falling short by 160 runs to hand the hosts a straight ninth victory.
To make India’s win sweeter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Virat Kohli, the crowd favorite, thanks to his decade-long association with the city-based IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, was among the wicket-takers, claiming his first ODI scalp in nine years.
Bowling his first over for India since 2016, skipper Rohit Sharma also chipped in with a wicket to finish things off in style. Part-timers Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav also rolled their arms for a couple of overs each.
After Mohammed Siraj provided India the first breakthrough with the scalp of opener Wesley Barresi, Max O’Dowd (30) and Colin Ackermann (35) raised a 61-run second wicket stand to provide solidity to the Netherlands innings but soon fell apart once the spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav were introduced. Dropped on 29 by Siraj off Kuldeep, O’Dowd failed to capitalize on the reprieve, as Jadeja crashed through his defences on the first ball of his spell. Kuldeep came back to trap Ackermann before Kohli got rid of skipper Scott Edwards (17), thanks to a superb leg side collection from Rahul.
With wickets tumbling at the other end, Sybrand Engelbrecht raged a lone battle for the Dutch outfit, scoring a sluggish 80-ball 45 before falling to Siraj on his return spell. Later, Teja Nidamanuru (54 off 39 balls) took his chances by tonking part-timer Suryakumar for consecutive sixes to record the highest score for the opposition but fell soon after dispatching Rohit for a six to bring up his fifty.
Earlier, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul smoked whirlwind centuries to cap off India’s innings with their highest score of the tournament after Rohit Sharma elected to bat on a placid turf. Local boy Rahul broke the record for the fastest century by an Indian in the World Cup with a 64-ball 102 while Iyer finished unbeaten on 128 off 94 balls.
The duo capitalized on the platform set by Rohit and Shubman Gill with their 100-run stand in just over 11 overs. Gill fell on 51 off 32 while Rohit was later dismissed on 61 off 54 balls. Kohli went on to slam 51 off 56 before Iyer and Rahul put up a mammoth 208-run stand off just 128 balls. This is the first time in World Cup history that the top five batters of a team have all scored 50 or more.
Unlike the past few games, Kohli was off to a shaky start after the blazing opening stand was broken but soon found his groove with Iyer at the other end, and in no time, the pair put up a 71-run stand for the third wicket. Kohli scored yet another half-century but fell right then, but Iyer soldiered on with Rahul and scored a half-century himself, making it the first time that all batters in the top four of a team scored fifties in a World Cup game.
In a matter of minutes, Rahul also crossed his half-century and Iyer eventually went on to notch up his first World Cup century. With India racing to 300 by the 40th over, Rahul sent the bowlers to the leather hunt and made his intentions clear of getting India close to, if not more than, 400. They ended up soaring past that mark when Rahul hit back to back sixes off the first two balls of the last over to bring up his century in mere 62 balls.