Riding on a blazing fifty by Shivam Dube and a triple strike by Varun Chakravarthy, India closed out a 17-run victory against the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
After Netherlands began their pursuit of a steep target of 194, Varun made the first breakthrough for India with his fourth ball, castling Max O'Dowd for 20 off 18 balls.
Hardik Pandya then had the other opener Michael Levitt caught by Washington Sundar on the midwicket boundary for 24 off 23 balls to leave the Dutch at 51/2 in the eighth over.
Brought back into the attack in the 13th over, Varun dismissed the dangerous Colin Ackermann for 23 off 15 balls as the Dutchman holed out to Rinku Singh on the midwicket boundary.
Off the very next ball, he castled Aryan Dutt who failed to pick his googly as the Netherlands slumped to 94/4.
Earlier, Shivam Dube smashed 66 off just 31 balls to lift India to 193/6 in their final Group A clash after the top order failed to get going.
Dube and Hardik Pandya were involved in a 76-run stand for the fifth wicket off just 35 balls. Dube reached his fifty off 25 balls and fell in the last over of the innings after hammering six sixes and four fours.
Hardik was dismissed off the final delivery of the innings after making 30 off 21 balls including three sixes.
Earlier, Abhishek Sharma fell for his third successive duck in the tournament, being bowled by Aryan Dutt off the third ball of the innings. He also bagged two ducks in the T20I series against New Zealand, making this his fifth duck of 2026 so far.
Dutt also castled the other opener Ishan Kishan for 18 off seven balls, leaving India at 39/2 in the fifth over.
Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav added 30 runs before the former was brilliant caught on the long off boundary by Roelof van der Merwe off Logan van Beek for 31 off 27 balls.
SKY and Shivam Dube sought to rebuild the innings with a 41-run partnership that ended when the skipper was caught at long leg off Kyle Klein for 34 off 28 balls, leaving India at 110/4 at 13.3 overs.
India had won the toss and elected to bat. Arshdeep Singh returned to the playing XI in place of Kuldeep Yadav while Washington Sundar gets to play his first match in the tournament after Axar Patel was rested.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Netherlands (Playing XI): Michael Levitt, Max O'Dowd, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards(w/c), Zach Lion-Cachet, Noah Croes, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Kyle Klein