TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: It’s been four games and four wins but India are yet to have a complete performance with the bat in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Unlike the appetisers served in the bilateral which preceded the multi-nation tournament, the main course has fallen far short of expectations. The Men in Blue have had different heroes bail them out of precarious situations in all four games but it could well become a tight position in the Super 8 stage. Suryakumar Yadav vs USA, Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya vs Namibia, Ishan again vs Pakistan and now Shivam Dube’s firepower at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.The opening has been the biggest concern as the World No.1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma is yet to score a run in the tournament. It exposed Tilak Varma early, and his newfound obsession of farming strike without showing any intent has sucked momentum from the innings. Surya’s watchful start has further allowed opponents to apply a choke in the middle overs, meaning the lower order does most of the heavy lifting.
Ishan has been India’s primary aggressor, but after he walked off in the fifth over of the innings, the Netherlands gained significant control when Tilak combined with Surya in the middle overs. Together the duo faced 28 deliveries and scored only 30 runs. There was an early reprieve for the Indian captain and the fluency was far from ideal against an attack which stuck to their plans and was very disciplined in front of a capacity crowd.The boundaries had dried up and a sense of desperation was creeping in, prompting an immediate move. Tilak was back after scoring 31 off 27 and Surya found the fielder in the deep ending his knock at 34 off 28 balls. When the runs dried up, Dube, the gladiator, took matters into his own hands and was impeccable with his shot selection. There was a cautious effort by the opposition to mix pace but Dube was not falling in the trap. He seemed to be reading it well off the hand and his approach wasn’t premeditated. The ball was hit where it was supposed to be hit, and there were no half-measures.With six sixes and four boundaries, he injected much needed urgency into the innings and even when Hardik was going at run-a-ball at the other end, Dube’s approach kept India on course of a big total. The partnership between the two raced to 76 off just 35 balls, doing significant damage control for the cautiousness exhibited by the earlier right-left pair of Surya and Tilak in the innings.Chasing 194 runs on a pitch that offered something for bowlers was always going to be a daunting task for the Netherlands. They managed well against the new ball pairing of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh but had no response for Varun Chakravarthy. The mystery spinner, India’s trump card in the tournament, picked three wickets in as many overs – two of those coming off consecutive deliveries, as the Netherlands batter looked clueless when he unzipped his bag of tricks.In their last group game, Surya used as many as seven bowlers – even giving an over to Abhishek Sharma – to ensure everyone is warmed up for the big game against South Africa on February 22. Lower-ranked teams have exposed the Indian batters’ weakness on multiple occasions in the last couple of weeks and the defending champions will want to resolve this before hitting the business end of the tournament.Gerhard Erasmus, Aryan Dutt, Salman Agha, Saim Ayub and Usman Tariq have given enough cues for the teams set to face India in the Super 8. Aiden Markram (South Africa), Roston Chase (West Indies) and Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe) will be eagerly waiting for Surya & Co.Brief scoresIndia 193/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 66, Suryakumar Yadav 34; Logan van Beek 3/56, Aryan Dutt 2/19)Netherlands 176/7 in 20 overs (Bas de Leede 33, Zach Lion-Cachet 26; Varun Chakravarthy 3/14, Shivam Dube 35/2)
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