Ahmedabad: India defeated the Netherlands by 17 runs in Group A in the 36th match of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Wednesday — winning all matches in Group A and entering the Super-8 in style.
Earlier, Shivam Dube's 66 and Suryakumar Yadav's 34 helped India reach 193/6 against the Netherlands. The rival team fought well but ended up with 176/7 on board.
Dube’s 66 against the Netherlands now stands as his highest T20I score, surpassing his 65 against New Zealand in Visakhapatnam earlier in 2026 and the unbeaten 63 against Afghanistan in Indore in 2024.
After electing to bat on a red soil wicket, India lost out-of-form Abhishek Sharma early as he departed for his third consecutive duck of the tournament. Aryan Dutt struck twice early to shake India during the Power-play.
He dismissed both Sharma and Ishan Kishan (18 off 17) with three excellent overs off-spin with the new ball. Ishan showed promise with a few solid hits and added 39 runs with Tilak Varma (31) before he got bowled in an unfortunate dismissal.
Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav took hold of the Indian innings and then added 30-odd runs. Suryakumar was dropped by Michael Levitt off Logan van Beek, but ultimately, the Netherlands all-rounder got rid of Varma with a slower delivery bowled outside off.
Varma, looking to go big over long-off, placed it beside 41-year-old Roelof van der Merwe, who attempted a full-stretched dive to complete the wicket.
Skipper Surykumar then opened his hand with a signature style ‘Supla’ shot off de Leede in the 12th over, and then all-rounder Shivam Dube took charge of power-hitting in the very next over.
Colin Ackermann, bowling the 13th over, was taken down by Dube with two maximums on the leg side and a boundary, carving the covers as 19 runs came off the over.
Meanwhile, Pakistan stormed into the Super 8s of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a commanding 102-run win over Namibia at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, Sri Lanka, defending their imposing total of 199/3 by bowling Namibia out for just 97 in 17.3 overs.
