T20 World Cup 2022: India vs Netherlands and the challenges of playing ‘lesser’ nations

India skipper Rohit Sharma and the Netherlands captain Scott Edwards will face off on Thursday.

When Rohit Sharma and Scott Edwards walk out for the toss at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday evening, it will mark the beginning of the first ever Twenty20 International between India and the Netherlands. That it comes at the Super 12 stage of a T20 World Cup must be of particular delight to the Dutch, who are no strangers to this competition but who hadn’t previously been drawn in the same group as their inarguably more celebrated rivals.

The teams are carrying contrasting results into their second match each of the campaign. India are coming off a rousing last-ball triumph on Sunday against old foes Pakistan, while the Netherlands went down by nine runs the following day to Bangladesh, a match they have reason to believe they should have won after restricting their opponents to 144 for eight.

Defeat at the hands of Bangladesh was a timely reminder to the Dutch of how much of a gulf exists between the associate nations and the big boys, even if the Asian nation isn’t in the very top echelons of 20-over cricket. Taskin Ahmed’s twin strikes with the first two balls of the innings pretty much killed off the Netherlands’ chase and even though Colin Ackermann batted bravely to make a match-high 62 and put on 34 for the last wicket with Paul van Meekeren, the Dutch ran out of steam and fell short by two big hits.

The Netherlands can expect an even more difficult run-out against the Indians, ranked No. 1 in the ICC T20I rankings and on a buoyant high after their near-miraculous win against Pakistan. For the Netherlands to make a match of it, they will have to play out of their skins and hope for India to sustain a dramatic adrenaline let-down after the frenetic finish on Sunday, and while that’s reasonably encouraging on paper, they will know that it’s not realistic to expect India to be so basking in the afterglow of the Pakistan win, that they will be ripe for the picking this time around.

Sport has a wicked way of punishing complacency and smugness, and India themselves have been at the receiving end more than once in the past. However, it is difficult to see this Indian outfit, ultra-professional as it is, taking the Dutch lightly. For starters, at the first sign of over-confidence, Rahul Dravid will step in and remind his charges that India have played — and won — just one of their five matches, that the semi-final slot, the first target, is still some distance away.

The head coach, though, is in the happy position of not needing to read the riot act because even on its own, the team is driven and sensible enough to understand the perils of hoping to merely turn up to get the job done. T20 World Cups have been studded with monumental upsets, and the Dutch themselves have delivered one giant-killing act, against England at Lord’s in 2009. This edition has already seen Namibia stun Sri Lanka and two-time champions West Indies fail to advance to the Super 12s, so India won’t be unaware of the banana skin that the Netherlands can casually toss their way.

In an era gone by, unfamiliarity with the Netherlands players could have been a disadvantage, especially considering that many of the Indians are household names across the cricketing world and there is little about their cricket that is not known. That has changed in the last 15 years, what with all the teams armed with extensive, exhaustive databases that given them a ringside view of the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, no matter how little the teams might have played against each other. India will, therefore, arrive with their homework done and aware of what makes the Dutch tick and what can tug them down but more importantly, they will come with an attitude that reflects their quality without disrespecting or looking down on their opponents.

The Netherlands have nothing to lose and a huge upset win to gain, so they will try to come out all guns blazing, which is easier said than done against a team like India. For the latter, the challenge will be to internalise, to worry about their own disciplines and ponder over which areas need specific addressing ahead of the stiffer battles that definitely lie in store.

A champion side’s character is revealed in the ruthlessness with which it swats aside an opponent, clearly, not in its league. India haven’t always walked this path with conviction, often playing to the level of the opponent but there is something different about this team that leaves no stone unturned in its bid to stamp its authority. The Netherlands are an international team, they are playing the World Cup and they deserve to be here, so to take them anything short of full and utter seriousness is selling themselves short and India won’t go down that path.

Crucially, while the euphoric win against Pakistan triggered waves of celebration and feel-good spirit, it wasn’t a complete performance by any stretch of the imagination. The batting, especially, left a lot to be desired and it needed a magical innings from Virat Kohli to translate crushing defeat into a memorable victory. India’s internal focus will be sharp and unwavering, with the onus specifically on Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to find some form and runs. The skipper and his deputy haven’t necessarily been in roaring touch this year, and while the Netherlands don’t have the most threatening pace attack, they will still pose a challenge of sorts that should keep the competitive juices of the two right-handers flowing.

In so many ways, and this too is said without any disrespect, this isn’t so much India vs Netherlands as it is India vs India. How that pans out should make for the most intriguing show.