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The nightmare refused to end for Abhishek Sharma, the No. 1 T20I batter in the world. At the sprawling Narendra Modi Stadium in front of more than 68,000 spectators, the left-hander was dismissed for his third successive duck of the T20 World Cup, Netherlands off-spinner Aryan Dutt adding to the opener’s misery in India’s final Group A encounter.
Double blow for India
Dutt, the 22-year-old, produced an excellent first spell of 3-0-17-2 in which he also fortuitously accounted for the marauding Ishan Kishan, bowled off body and elbow on the pull. While the offie fired the ball in, often topping 100 kmph, Kyle Klein and Bas de Leede, the medium-pacers, took pace off to have the Indian top order in a bind.
Abhishek Sharma is clean bowled by the Netherlands’s Aryan Dutt. Pic/Getty Images
Runs were extremely hard to come by for Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav and India were only 74-3 at the halfway mark when Shivam Dube arrived in a flurry of sixes. The powerful left-hander took a few deliveries to size up the pitch, sluggish and uninviting. He then opened his broad shoulders to stack up a bouquet of boundaries. The sixes stemmed from brute power, the fours came off sublime timing and great touch as Dube clattered to a 25-ball fifty on his way to his highest T20I score of 66.
Crucial 76-run stand
Dube and Hardik Pandya, scratchy but still packing a punch, put on 76 for the fifth wicket in a mere 35 balls to erase any worry lines in the dugout. They were largely responsible for a grandstand finish that netted 75 in the last five overs and 11 sixes in the last 10, on the back of which India posted an above-par 193 for six. The spirited Dutch, who have had a tournament to forget, never threatened but bowed out respectably, going down by only 17 runs after replying with 176-7.
India bowled poorly, especially towards the end, with Pandya leaking runs by the bushel, and put down several catches, in slightly worrisome signs heading into the Super Eights.
Netherlands offered pockets of strong resistance, primarily through de Leede and then Zach Lion-Cachet and Noa Croes at the very end, but the class and
depth of the bowling was too much for them. Varun Chakravarthy killed off whatever little interest there might have been with three wickets in as many overs as India finished their league ties with an all-win record.
Brief scores
India 193-6 in 20 overs (S Dube 66, S Yadav 34, T Varma 31, H Pandya 30; L Beek 3-56, A Dutt 2-19) beat Netherlands 176-7 in 20 overs (B Leede 33; V Chakravarthy 3-14, Dube 2-35) by 17 runs
One
No. of half-centuries for Shivam Dube in T20 World Cups
Three
No. of consecutive ducks for Abhishek Sharma — joint-most in T20 World Cups
Five
No. of ducks by Abhishek Sharma in T20Is in 2026 — joint-most by an Indian in a calendar year, alongside Sanju Samson (in 2024)
6008
Total number of runs scored by Hardik Pandya in T20s — becomes the first Indian all-rounder to cross 6000 runs and pick 200-plus wickets in the shortest format
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