ICC T20 World Cup 2026 | Shivam Dube's heroics leads India to 17-run win over Netherlands

Ahmedabad: A passionate Netherlands brought the fight to the table as promised, but the overall might of the Indians proved too much for them as the defending champions roared to yet another polished win in their final Group A fixture of the ICC T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

The Associate Nation, playing India for the second time in the T20I game, surprisingly held the hosts’ star-studded batting line-up on a tight leash for nearly three-quarters of their innings with dogged bowling and disciplined fielding that had the 68,000 turnout at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium quiet for most of the time.

Shivam Dube, arriving on the back of an exceptional series against New Zealand last month where he unveiled another dimension to his game that has substantially elevated his stock, gave voice to the crowd with a momentum-shifting 66 off 31 balls. His sensational assault at the death, containing four boundaries and six mammoth sixes, powered India to a huge 193/6 in 20 overs that looked completely out of bounds until five overs remaining.

On a somewhat sluggish surface where even a majority of the Indian batters struggled to force the pace, the Netherlands were always going to find the chase almost impossible considering the quality of the bowling they were up against. Their top-order comprising Michael Levitt (24), Max O’Dowd (20), Bas de Leede (33) and Colin Ackermann (23) all got starts but not could go on a make a big score, Dutch managing to reach 176/7. 

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy continued to impress with 3/14 while the rest of his colleagues were also on the mark in another good day in the office for the bowling unit. Dube had a fine night with the ball too, bagging 2/35.

Despite the defeat, the Dutch can take joy from the fact that they were able to go toe-to-toe against an intimidating Indian batting line-up. Off-spinner Aryan Dutt (2/19) scalped out-of-sorts Abhishek Sharma for a three-ball duck in the opening over itself. It was the opener’s fifth duck in eight innings, and the dejection was visible on his face after a wild slog uprooted his leg stump.

Dutt was completely pumped up and he delivered a fine spell in the Power Play, stifling Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma by bowling slower through the air. Not just him but the rest of his colleagues too bowled to a plan - consistently taking the pace off the ball and keeping it tad wide. As much as Kishan, Tilak Varma, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav tried, they could only find the odd boundary but couldn’t break free. Such was the struggle, India limped to 74/3 in 10 overs. Between overs 8.6 and 11.5, India didn’t score a single boundary, Netherlands fielding and bowling like Tigers.

Suryakumar snapped that snag with a cracking six off Bas de Leede in the final ball of the 12th over. His fellow Mumbaikar Dube then pressed on the accelerator by creaming off-spinner Colin Ackerman for two sixes and a boundary as 19 runs came in the 13th over. 

With his eye in and seeing the ball like a football, Dube took the Dutch bowlers to the cleaners at the death, littering the sprawling park with an array of boundaries and sixes with his trademark pulls and blistering shots down the ground. Seeing Dube, Pandya got his juices flowing too, the all-rounder unleashing three sixes in a 21-ball 30. The duo’s 76-run stand off 35 balls for the fifth wicket turned the tide in India’s way and the Men In Blue chugged along smoothly thereafter for their fourth win on the trot in the tournament.

Score board 

India

Abhishek b Dutt 0

(3b)

Kishan b Dutt 18

(7b, 2x4, 1x6) 

Varma c Van der Merwe b Van Beek 31

(27b, 3x4, 1x6) 

Suryakumar c van der Gugten b Klein 34

(28b, 2x4, 1x6)

Dube c sub b Van Beek 66

(31b, 4x4, 6x6)

Pandya c Van der Merwe b Van Beek 30

(21b, 3x4)

Rinku Singh (not out) 6

(3b, 1x6)  

Extras (B-1, W-7) 8

Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs) 193

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Abhishek), 2-39 (Kishan), 3-69 (Varma), 4-110 (Suryakumar), 5-186 (Dube), 6-193 (Pandya). 

Bowling: Dutt 4-0-19-2, Van Beek 4-0-56-3 (w-2), Ackermann 3-0-36-0 (w-1), Klein 4-0-38-1 (w-2), De Leede 4-0-28-0 (w-2).

Netherlands

Levitt c Sundar b Pandya 24

(23b, 4x4)

O’Dowd b Chakravarthy 20

(18b, 2x4, 1x6)

De Leede c Chakravarthy b Dube 33

(23b, 3x4, 1x6)

Ackermann c Rinku b Chakravarthy 23

(15b, 1x4, 2x6)

Dutt b Chakravarthy 0

(1b)

Edwards b Bumrah 15

(10b, 2x4)

Lion-Cachet c Sundar b Dube 26

(16b, 1x4, 1x6)

Croes (not out) 25

(12b, 5x4)

Van Beek (not out) 4

(2b, 1x4)

Extras (LB-2, W-4) 6

Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 176 

Fall of wickets: 1-35 (O’Dowd), 2-51 (Levitt), 3-94 (Ackermann) 4-94 (Dutt), 5-112 (De Leede), 6-125 (Edwards), 7-172 (Lion-Cachet).

Bowling: Arshdeep 3-0-22-0, Bumrah 3-0-17-1 (w-1), Sundar 4-0-36-0, Chakravarthy 3-0-14-3 (w-1), Pandya 3-0-40-1 (w-1), Abhishek 1-0-10-0, Shivam 3-0-35-2.

Result: India won by 17 runs