Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul shine to make it nine out of nine

KL Rahul (right) and Shreyas Iyer during their 208-run stand at Bangalore yesterday. Pic/Bipin Patel

In India's IT capital, like in most parts of the country, there is a restriction on the bursting of crackers during Diwali with the aim of curbing noise and environmental pollution. Fortunately, those strictures don't apply to a game of cricket, hence the sustained burst of fireworks that flowed at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

It was a Sunday to savour for a massive crowd as India completed their league engagements in the World Cup with an all-win record, extending their streak in this edition to nine matches with a 160-run demolition of the Netherlands. Rohit Sharma chose to give his batting group another opportunity to keep the runs flowing and everyone in the top five delivered in a stunning exhibition of unfettered stroke-making.

Gill starts with a bang

The skipper started it off before Shubman Gill took over with a 30-ball half-century. Virat Kohli moved to top of the run-making leaderboard with a pleasing 51, hundred No. 50 proving elusive in front of his adoring fans. But Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul made up for that disappointment with exceptional centuries during which they unleashed their full range of strokes.

Their twin tons and a gigantic stand of 208 muscled India to 410-4, by a distance their highest tally of this tournament. From then on, it was a question of what the margin would be, not whether the Netherlands could halt the marauding Indian juggernaut.

The Dutch, who have shown spirit right through the tournament, put up fiery pockets of resistance as they placed the excellent batting deck in perspective, but India's bowling was too strong for them to make a match of it. At various stages, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht and the feisty Teja Nidamanuru, who struck a flurry of sixes, entertained a good-natured crowd that got its money's worth. But India's crack attack wasn't to be denied, the Netherlands dismissed for 250 to hand Rohit Sharma's men a clinical win ahead of their Mumbai semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Also Read: Records galore as India hammer 410 for four against feeble Netherlands

Kohli, Rohit claim 1 wkt each

There was added joy for the Chinnaswamy audience when Rohit threw the ball to his predecessor and Kohli obliged by having Scott Edwards caught smartly down leg by Rahul. Rohit also used four combined overs from Gill and Suryakumar before bringing himself on right at the end and picking up the final wicket. India may have played to the gallery a little, but despite two dropped catches by Mohammed Siraj and a few lapses in the field, they definitely did not treat this fixture as a formality.

That was evident from the ferocity with which the captain and then Gill went at the Dutch, but it was during the Iyer-Rahul stand that India grew fangs. Fours and sixes flew off their blades with stunning regularity - in all, India slammed 37 fours and 16 sixes - as the Netherlands were exposed to the challenges of life in the fast lane.

Brief scores
India 410-4 in 50 overs (S Iyer 128', KL Rahul 102, R Sharma 61, S Gill 51, V Kohli 51; B Leede 2-82) beat The Netherlands 250 all out in 47.5 overs (T Nidamanuru 54, S Engelbrecht 45, C Ackermann 35, M O'Dowd 30; M Siraj 2-29, J Bumrah 2-33, K Yadav 2-41, R Jadeja 2-49) by 160 runs