T20 World Cup 2026: India beat Netherlands by 17 runs

India will head into the T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eight unbeaten after maintaining a clean sheet in the group stage of the tournament. The defending champions, eyeing history, defeated the Netherlands in their last league-stage match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 18 by 17 runs.

India have won all four of their matches in the league stage to remain on top of Group A. They displayed a strong performance with the bat on what seemed to be a slightly sluggish pitch before their bowlers did well enough to hold off a spirited Netherlands challenge in Ahmedabad.

The Indian bowlers did well on their part, but they could not close things out and bowl the Dutch out despite having sent them seven down. Dew might have played some part. The Dutch batters got off to starts and were always behind the eight ball in this chase, but they would be happy for having come a bit close to India.

The bowlers did a good job, with



Varun Chakravarthy being a sort of unplayable bowler, taking three wickets for just 14 runs in four overs. Shivam Dube also chipped in with his two wickets for 35 runs in three overs, while Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya got one each. The Men in Blue would be pleased to see the likes of Bumrah and Chakravarthy putting up strong performances with the ball.

Meanwhile, Dube turned up a stellar all-around performance. He scored a stellar 66 from 31 balls with the bat previously on what did not seem to be a very easy surface to bat on. Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma also chipped in with key contributions. Varma made 31 from 27 balls, while SKY scored 34 from 28 deliveries to bail the team out after they lost their openers inside the powerplay. 

Meanwhile, Hardik and Dube put up a strong 76-run stand in the second half of the innings as their partnership took the Men in Blue close to 200, which eventually proved to be enough for the defending champions.