India, Sky high!

Suryakumar Yadav en route his 51 not out yesterday. Pic/AFP

Being used for the second match in succession on the same evening, the 22-yard strip at the Sydney Cricket Ground posed myriad challenges to India's top order. Suryakumar Yadav then breezed in and batted as if on a shirtfront, reducing the match against The Netherlands on Thursday to one-way traffic with an innings of the highest quality.

To completely put to shade Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom struck half-centuries on the evening, is no mean accomplishment. Suryakumar did so effortlessly from the time he marched out at the end of the 12th over, unleashing such mayhem that The Netherlands had nowhere to hide.

India go with same playing XI

His electric 25-ball half-century was the cornerstone around which India erected 179-2 after Rohit won a second straight toss and chose to bat. India signalled their intentions by going in with the same XI that edged Pakistan on Sunday and were rewarded for a dominant all-round show by hitting the top of the Super 12 Group 2 standings with a second win on the bounce, by the commanding margin of 56 runs.

KL looked out of sorts

India's innings was a strange admixture, a tale of two parts. KL Rahul looked totally out of sorts, as he has often been since his comeback at the Asia Cup in August, and Rohit was only marginally more fluent, both defeated as much the slowness of the track as the predominantly off-pace The Netherlands attack. Rahul perished early, playing all over and across a full ball from Paul van Meekeren to be adjudged leg before - he chose not to review and replays suggested the ball was missing leg - while Rohit alternated between the muscular and the frustrated.

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Between bouts of exasperation, he found the boundaries often enough to provide some impetus to an innings that had only produced 53 in the first nine overs against Dutch discipline with the ball and excellence in the field. Kohli too took his time, but Suryakumar batted like he had not a care in the world, mixing customary whips to leg, walking across his stumps, to some peachy cover-drives that had class oozing all over them.

Largely a silent partner in the 73-run stand with Rohit, Kohli finished strongly, going from 19 off 21 at one stage to 62 off 44 when the innings ended. During the 95-run unbroken stand, Suryakumar batted in just one extraordinary gear, fittingly bringing up his fifty off the last ball with a screaming six over long-leg.

The Netherlands hung on to finish on 123 for nine, losing four for 39 in eight overs to spinners Axar Patel and R Ashwin, after Bhuvneshwar Kumar had started the carnage with an opening spell of 2-2-0-1. Clinical, professional India, propelled by the flamboyance of Suryakumar, made this as one-sided as you could get.

Rohit not too happy despite scoring 53

India captain Rohit Sharma was ecstatic with his team's "near perfect" win over The Netherlands, but "not too happy" about his own 53-run knock in the T20 World Cup here on Thursday. Rohit had four hits to the fence and three maximums in his 39-ball innings as India posted 179-2 and then limited The Netherland to 123-9 for a 56-run win.

Rohit Sharma at Sydney yesterday. Pic/AFP

"Not too happy with my fifty," said Rohit, who was dropped by Tim Pringle in the fifth over bowled by Fred Klaassen. "But what's important is getting runs - doesn't matter if they are good looking runs or ugly runs. At the end of the day, it is about keeping the confidence up," Rohit said at the post-match presentation.

867
No of runs scored by Suryakumar in 25 T20Is this year @ 41.28

Brief scores
India 179-2 (V Kohli 62', R Sharma 53, S Yadav 51')beat The Netherlands 123-9 (T Pringle 20; B Kumar 2-9, A Patel 2-18, R Ashwin 2-21, Arshdeep 2-37) by 56 runs