(ICC) – India posted a target of 180 for Netherlands to chase in their Group 2 clash at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after half-centuries from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.

Winning the toss and batting first, India lost their opener KL Rahul relatively early. Netherlands bowled with great discipline in the power-play, restricting India to a score of 32-1.

But skipper Rohit Sharma then opened up his arms, bringing up a half-century. He departed soon after bringing up his milestone, getting out for a 39-ball 53.

Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav then upped the aggression, with the former bringing up consecutive half-centuries in the tournament after his memorable knock against Pakistan. He was well-supported by Yadav, who also played some brilliant shots, bringing up his half-century off the final ball.

Kohli scored a 62* off 44, while Yadav finished up with a 25-ball 51*, as India ended their innings at a score of 179-2 in their 20 overs.

In reply, Bhuvneshwar Kumar proceeded to bowl two maidens including a wicket to kick-start things for India. India introduced spin early and found success with it as Axar Patel sent back Max O’Dowd off the second ball of the fifth over.

Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann revived the innings a tad, albeit at slow pace, before Axar struck again to dismiss the former. Ashwin then further piled on Netherlands’ woes by dismissing Ackermann and Tom Cooper in the same over.

Netherlands never really recovered from that point, ambling along to 123-9 as India sealed a win by 56 runs to push their net run rate up to +1.425.

PLAYING XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wkp.), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

Netherlands: Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Tom Cooper, Scott Edwards (c & wkp.), Tim Pringle, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren.