Friends, on 18 February 2026, the last match of the league stage of T20 World Cup 2026 took place between India and Netherlands, in which India continued its excellent performance by defeating Netherlands by 17 runs. With this win, India registered their fourth consecutive win in the tournament, finished the group stage without defeat and firmly established themselves as a strong contender for the title, but India had to work hard for this win, let’s take a look at this match-

India made a strong total of 193/6

Winning the toss, India decided to bat first. The hosts suffered an early blow when Abhishek Sharma was out for a duck on just the third ball. However, Tilak Verma took over the innings by scoring 31 runs in 27 balls.

Surya scored valuable 34 runs before getting out. The momentum then changed dramatically when Shivam Dubey and Hardik Pandya put on a quickfire 76-run partnership for the fifth wicket in just 35 balls. Dubey scored 66 runs off 31 balls, which included 6 sixes and 4 fours, while Hardik scored 30 runs off 21 balls, helping India post a massive score of 193/6 in 20 overs.

Netherlands made a comeback but lost at 176/7

Chasing 194, Netherlands got off to a good start. Michael Levitt and Max O’Dowd added 35 runs for the first wicket. O’Dowd scored 20, while Levitt scored 24.

After losing two wickets for 51 runs, Colin Ackerman (23) and Bas De Leede (33) bounced back with a quick 49-run partnership. The turning point came when Varun Chakravarthy took two wickets in two consecutive balls, dismissing Ackerman and Aryan Dutt to halt the Dutch team’s momentum.

Despite a last-minute save from Noah Kroos (25*), the Netherlands finished on 176/7.

special bowling performance

Varun Chakraborty: 3/14

Shivam Dubey: 2/35

Jasprit Bumrah: 1 wicket

Hardik Pandya: 1 wicket

With this stellar performance, India finished the Group A stage undefeated and are heading into the knockout phase with strong momentum.