Ahmedabad, February 18 Shivam Dube played a game-changing innings before Varun Chakravarthy produced another impressive spell to set up India's convincing 17-run victory over the Netherlands in their final league fixture of the T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Despite the top-order struggles against off-spinner Aryan Dutt, India managed to score a challenging 193 for six, thanks to the brilliant innings of Shivam Dube (66 off 31) in the second half of the innings.
The Netherlands were always behind in the chase, and Chakravarthy (3/14 in 3 overs) closed the door on them, performing well in both the powerplay and the middle overs.
True to his strength, the mystery spinner relentlessly attacked the stumps, removing Colin Ackermann and Aryan Dutt in successive balls in the 13th over, leaving the Netherlands at 94 for four.
Soon after, Bas de Leede and captain Scott Edwards were dismissed, effectively ending all hopes for the associate nation, who ended their campaign with three losses and a solitary win.
Zach Lion-Cachet (26 not out off 16) and Noah Croes (25 not out off 12) made things more interesting in the death overs, but they still had to do a lot despite collecting 18 runs from Hardik Pandya in the 19th over.
Expecting tougher battles ahead, Suryakumar Yadav chose to give the final over to Shivam Dube over Jasprit Bumrah. Despite two dropped catches, Dube was able to defend 28 off the last six balls as the Netherlands ended at 176/7 in 20 overs.
Overwhelming title favourites India now head into their opening Super 8 game against South Africa here as the only unbeaten team from Group A. However, they still have work to do against the spinners.
Opting to bat, India were hoping for Abhishek Sharma's return to form ahead of the Super 8, but the left-hander had to endure his third consecutive duck in the tournament. Despite being in excellent form not so long ago, he is yet to score a run in his maiden ICC event.
It was the off-spin of Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus, Usman Qadir, and Saim Ayub that had troubled the Indians in the previous league games. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Indian-origin offie Dutt to shine against a star-studded home team at the world's largest cricket stadium.
On the eve of the match day, the Indian batters focussed on their game against the spinners in the nets but going forward, they still have work to do.
While Dutt was the standout bowler, the variations used by the Netherlands pacers also tested the Indians.
Dutt, who is used to opening the bowling, was employed for three overs in the powerplay to counter the left-handed trio of Abhishek, Ishan Kishan (18 off 7), and Tilak Varma (31 off 27).
Having played two dot balls in the opening over, Abhishek went for the pull off a faster ball from Dutt, only to see his stumps disturbed.
The in-form Kishan was quick to get off the blocks before falling to Dutt in a bizarre fashion. Trying to dispatch Dutt on the leg-side, Kishan played on to his stumps with the ball ricocheting from his thigh and elbow.
Tilak, who started with a crisp straight six off pacer Logan van Beek, fell to the same bowler in the ninth over with 41-year-old Roelof van der Merwe taking a stunner at long-off.
India would have been four down inside 10 overs had Michael Levitt not dropped a sitter off van Beek when Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 27) was on 13.
Having stuttered to 74/3 in 10 overs, Dube gave the innings the much-needed steam with half a dozen sixes, most of them in the cow corner region. He too was tested by Dutt initially before clearing his front leg to get a free flow of the arms to clear the ropes at will.
Dube shared a 76-run stand with Hardik (30 off 21) to provide the push in the last five overs that yielded 75 runs.
