IND vs NED | India post mammoth 410-4 against Netherlands
The Hindu
Match report of the India vs Netherlands ICC World Cup match on November 12, 2023, played in Bengaluru
KL Rahul produced a cracker of an innings which was the fastest hundred by an Indian in World Cup while Shreyas Iyer also lit up the Bengaluru sky with his unbeaten 128 that powered India to a mammoth 410 for four against Netherlands on the Diwali day, here Sunday.
Rahul’s blitzkrieg and Iyer’s stylish 94-ball knock combined well with fifties by Shubman Gill (51), Rohit Sharma (61) and Virat Kohli (51), leaving the Dutch to make a steepling chase after India batted by choice.
Collecting 122 runs in the last 10 overs, India also became the third team to post 400 in this tournament after South Africa and New Zealand.
By the time Iyer, who made his fourth One-day ton and the first in the showpiece, arrived at the crease India were well-positioned to make a charge after Gill and Rohit plundered 100 runs off 71 balls for the opening wicket.
The 28-year-old right-hander played his part to perfection, exploiting that cushion in the company of Rahul, milking 208 runs for a devastating fourth-wicket stand.
Iyer was the kind of ODI innings that one can actually include in coaching archives as a model for budding cricketers.
The biggest highlight of Iyer’s batting is his ability to avoid risks – the awareness of bowlers and areas to target to keep the run-flow steady.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.