T20 WC: India win toss, opt to bat first against Netherlands

SYDNEY: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first against the Netherlands in their Group 2, Super 12 match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at iconic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday. India is in the second position in Group 2 with two points with their win over Pakistan. The Netherlands have played one match and are yet to earn a point.

India scored a thrilling four-wicket win over Pakistan on Sunday at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Virat Kohli shined with an unbeaten 82* off 53 balls and Hardik Pandya put up an all-round performance of 40 and 3/30. Arshdeep Singh took 3/32 in his first World Cup match, helping restrict Pakistan to 159/8.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, started its campaign with a narrow 9-run defeat to Bangladesh. Though a bowling spell from Paul van Meekeren (2/21) helped in restricting Bangladesh to 144/8 in 20 overs, the Asian country team bounced back to bundle out the Dutch for 135 with Colin Ackermann hitting a valiant 62.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said at the toss, "We are going to bat first. Yeah, morale is really high. Winning a game like that takes your confidence to the next level but at the same time, we understand we need to stay calm, just the first game of the tournament, and plenty of things to happen. We have to calm ourselves and look forward to this game. We want to keep improving no matter what the results are, it always keeps you in good stead when you are thinking like that. It is important for us to keep ticking those boxes."

Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards said at the toss, "We would have batted first too, but not too fussed." India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh Netherlands (Playing XI): Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Tom Cooper, Scott Edwards(w/c), Tim Pringle, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren.