Cricket World Cup - Perfect India thrash Netherlands by 160 runs to advance to semi-finals in top spot

India remain very much the team to beat at the 2023 Cricket World Cup after advancing to the knockout stage with a perfect nine wins from nine.

Their final victory, a 160-run thrashing of the Netherlands on Sunday, came via two big hundreds from Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul and never really seemed in doubt once the home side had won the toss.

Electing to bat, India reached 100 without losing a wicket.

Shubman Gill went for 51, superbly caught off the bowling of Paul van Meekeren by Teja Nidamanuru on the boundary, and Rohit Sharma followed four overs later.

At 129-2, India were hardly quivering but had wobbled just enough. The hosts stabilised and when tournament top scorer Virat Kohli went for 51 - his seventh score of 50+ in this tournament - they were comfortable at 200-3. Only then did Iyer and Rahul's big partnership begin.

Twenty one overs and 208 runs later, Bas de Leede broke the stand on the penultimate ball of the innings.

Suryakumar Yadav came to the middle for the final ball, adding two more runs to India's total, leaving the Dutch needing 411 to win.

Despite defending a gargantuan total, the Indian bowlers weren't messing about and Dutch opener Wesley Barresi was dismissed for just four runs in the second over.

There was no collapse from the Dutch. Max O'Dowd (30), Colin Ackermann (35), Sybrand Engelbrecht (45), and Nidamanuru (54), all made solid contributions but they simply couldn't get their run rate high enough to trouble the hosts.

Rohit Sharma sealed India's victory when he took Nidamanuru's wicket in the 48th over, with Mohammed Shami taking the catch.

India's perfect progression earns them a meeting with fourth placed New Zealand in the semi final, while Australia will face South Africa in a replay of their infamous 1999 meeting at the same stage.

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