India vs Netherlands, World Cup 2023: Men in Blue’s record ninth consecutive win, Rahul’s fastest ton and other stats

India were expected to steamroll Netherlands in the final league match of the 2023 ICC World Cup in Bengaluru on Sunday, given how they had performed throughout the tournament.

World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table

That indeed turned out to be the case as the Men in Blue handed the Dutchmen a 160-run thrashing at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to storm into the semi-finals of the showpiece event as the only remaining unbeaten team, having won each of their nine matches so far.

Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul headlined India’s clinical batting performance after skipper Rohit Sharma elected to bat, producing an unbeaten 128 and 102 respectively as the Men in Blue posted a whopping 410/4 on the board.

Netherlands didn’t quite crumble the way England, Sri Lanka and South Africa did in India’s previous outings, going as far as 250 thanks to a fighting half-century from Indian-born Teja Nidamanuru (54) and Sybrand Engelbrecht’s 45.

Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/33) were the pick of the Indian bowlers but the Men in Blue decided to have some fun during Netherlands’ chase as well, with Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit also collecting a wicket each.

Netherlands bow out with just four points in nine outings and finish at the bottom of the 10-team table while the Men in Blue, who were already guaranteed the No 1 position heading into this match, finished with a Net Run Rate of +2.570.

There were quite records broken and milestones achieved during the 45th match of the tournament, which we take a more detailed look at below:

— India’s victory over Netherlands was their ninth in the ongoing tournament. It is now their longest winning streak in a single edition of the ICC World Cup, going past their eight consecutive wins in 2003. Australia hold the record for most consecutive wins in a single edition with 11 victories each in 2003 and 2007.

— KL Rahul had earlier smashed the fastest World Cup century by an Indian, taking just 62 deliveries to bring up the milestone — one less than what Rohit had taken against Afghanistan last month.

— Ravindra Jadeja broke the record for the most wickets collected by an Indian spinner in a single edition of a World Cup. Jadeja collected two wickets to take his tally in this tournament to 16, one more than what Anil Kumble and Yuvraj Singh had managed in the 1996 and 2011 editions respectively.

— India have now equalled their own record for most ODI wins in a calendar year. They have won 24 ODIs this year, as many as they had managed in 1998.

— Rohit Sharma had earlier broken the record for most sixes in a calendar year by smashing two sixes during his 54-ball 61. He now has collected 60 sixes this year, one more than what AB de Villiers had managed in 2015.

In ODI, 1st Player to hit

10 6s in a year – Zaheer Abbas (1982)
20 6s in a year – Lance Cairns (1983)
30 6s in a year – Sanath Jayasuriya (1996)
40 6s in a year – Sachin Tendulkar (1998)
50 6s in a year – AB de Villiers (2015)
60 6s in a year – Rohit Sharma (2023)*

— Cricbaba (@thecricbaba) November 12, 2023

India have now struck the most sixes in a calendar year in ODIs. Indian batters collected 16 maximums against Netherlands on Sunday to take their 2023 tally to 215, six more than what the West Indies had managed in 2019.

— India used nine different bowlers against the Netherlands in Bengaluru on Sunday — the joint-most in a single ODI World Cup innings. England and New Zealand had used as many bowlers in the 1987 (against Sri Lanka) and 1992 (against Pakistan) editions respectively.

— Teja Nidamanuru broke the record for most sixes by a Dutch batter in an ODI innings, collecting six of them in his 39-ball 54, one more than what Bas de Leede had managed in his 92-ball 123 against Scotland in the World Cup Qualifier earlier this year.