T20 World Cup 2026 | India enters Super Eight with four out of four record

A nearly 69,000-strong crowd, the biggest of this T20 World Cup, bore witness to India’s 17-run win against the Netherlands on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) as the defending champion maintained its winning streak to march into the Super Eight with a spotless record.

Chasing 194, the Dutchmen’s score of 118 after 15 overs was identical to that of India’s at that stage. However, replicating Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya’s late-overs blitz wasn’t easy.

Earlier, after India opted to bat, Dube’s clean hitting glossed over a start-stop innings that hit top gear only in the final five overs.

Shifting gears

Dube and Hardik plundered 75 runs off the last 30 balls as the Men in Blue reached an imposing 193 for six on a low and skiddy pitch.

The left-handed Dube had trudged to 26 off 19 balls after 15 overs, when left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe’s late introduction turned the tide. Dube and Hardik hit a six each in the over to signal a shift in momentum.

Logan van Beek’s variation in length did little to unsettle Dube, who walloped the medium-pacer over midwicket and long-on for two maximums before raising a 25-ball half-century.

Too predictable

After mistiming a few slow and short deliveries, Hardik found his bearings in the 19th over as the Dutch ploy to take the pace off became too predictable.

Going deep in his crease, Hardik smashed two sixes off Kyle Klein, clearing long-on and long-off with a pull and a tennis-style forehand smash respectively. The carnage, though, belied the struggles at the start. The hard-hitting Abhishek Sharma notched up the unflattering record of most ducks (three) in a T20 World Cup edition when the left-hander lost his leg-stump to the tall off-spinner, Aryan Dutt, in the first over.

Aryan’s ability to skid the ball into the left-handers from a hard length also accounted for Ishan Kishan, who mistimed a hoick on the leg-side only for the ball to crash into the stumps off his thigh-pad and elbow.

Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav forged a 30-run alliance off 28 balls during which the left-hander struggled to time the ball and was often cramped for room on the leg-side.

Suryakumar, dropped on 13, ended a 21-ball boundary drought with a trademark flick over fine-leg, but was caught in the same region while reprising the shot.

Making the difference

The skipper’s wicket paved the way for the Dube-Hardik show, which eventually proved to be the difference.

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