CWC2023: Shreyas , Rahul slam 100s as India dominate Netherlands

 

The Indian team completed a seven-hour practice session in Bangalore so to speak .  Batting 50 overs first.  The first five batters of the team scored 50 plus .  Two made a hundred & three made fifties.  Later, Rohit Sharma completed his bowling practice.  Nine members of the party turned their hands.  The Indian team had a good practice before taking on New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.  India won nine out of nine matches in the round robin stage after defeating the Netherlands by 160 runs. 

 When Rohit won the toss against the Netherlands in Bengaluru and  batted first, it was clear they were looking to boost the batsmen's confidence ahead of the semi-finals.   Rohit and Shubman Gill started the game from the first over.  The Netherlands bowlers did not know where to bowl.  One ball after another flew into Chinnaswamy's gallery.  Shubman's six hit the roof of the stadium.

 Shubman (51) scored a fifty off 30 balls.  However, he got out after hitting a six on the very next ball.  Rohit also scored a half-century.  The Indian captain got out after scoring 61 runs while playing a big shot.  Virat had a bit of trouble in the beginning and was not batting properly.  But he did not give up.  Kohli's hands froze after playing a few balls.  After that he opened his hands and started playing positively.   Virat scored another fifty.  It seemed that he would leave the field after the 50th century.  But Kohli got bowled after scoring 51 runs.

India's middle order lit up in Bengaluru.  200 runs partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Lokesh Rahul came in rapid time.  Chinnaswamy's small field was used by two batters who played big shots.  Shreyas could not score a hundred despite scoring runs in the previous two matches.  He scored his first century in the World Cup in this match.  Rahul also scored a hundred by hitting a six.  This is his first century in the current World Cup.  In the end, India scored 410 runs for 4 wickets in 50 overs.  Rahul got out after scoring 102 runs.  Shreyas remained unbeaten on 128 runs.  Rohit has set a world record in one-day cricket.  For the first time in a match, two of the first five batsmen scored hundreds and three fifties.

In reply, Netherlands lost the wicket of Wesley Baresi early on.  Mohammad Siraj dismissed him.  But Max O'Dowd and Colin Ackerman put on a good partnership for the second wicket.  They were playing well against pacers.  As a result, Rohit brought the spinners quickly.  Kuldeep dismissed the aggressive Ackerman (35).  Ravindra Jadeja took O'Dowd's (30) wicket.  Rohit handed the ball to Kohli in the middle over.  He dismissed  the captain of the Netherlands, Scott Edwards (17) .  Kohli surprised himself with the wicket.  The teammates also kept laughing.

 Rohit handed over the ball to not only Virat but also Shubman and Suryakumar.  Everyone rotate hands.  As the match progressed, the Netherlands was moving away from the game.  Netherlands batsmen hit some big shots against the part-time bowlers.  But it did not benefit them.  Watching the game of the Netherlands, it was understood that they started playing with the mindset of batting the entire 50 overs. For them Engelbrecht (45)  &  Nidamanuru (54) batted very well hitting some impressive shots . 

 But Netherlands could not play full 50 overs.  In the end they were all out for 250 runs in 47.5 overs.  Rohit took the last wicket.  India won the match by 160 runs.  Among the Indian bowlers, Bumrah, Siraj, Kuldeep and Jadeja took 2 wickets each.  Rohit and Virat took 1 wicket each.  This is the first time Shami has not taken a wicket in a match in the current World Cup.

Shreyas Iyer was the player of the match .