India gave its cricket fans the perfect Diwali gift on Sunday as the team smashed the highest score of the ICC World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands in Bengaluru.
Opting to bat first, India rode on swashbuckling hundreds from Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to post a mammoth 410 for 4 in 50 overs after Rohit Sharma won the toss.
The top-five batters scored over 50 runs each for the first time in Indian cricket history in ODIs. It is also the first time in a World Cup ODI that the top-five have managed this feat.
Highest team totals in ODI World Cup
428/5 - SA vs SL, Delhi 2023
417/6 - AUS vs AFG, Perth 2015
413/5 - IND vs BER, Port of Spain 2007
411/4 - SA vs IRE, Canberra 2015
410/4 - IND vs NED, Bengaluru, 2023*
Rohit Sharma (61) and Shubman Gill (51) got the team off to a flying start with their 100-run opening stand before Virat Kohli entertained the spectators at the M Chinnaswamy with his 56-ball 51.
Iyer, Rahul enthrall Bengaluru
But it was the 208-run partnership between Iyer and Rahul which took the Indian team past the 400-run mark. Iyer ended up with 128 off 94 balls with 10 fours and five sixes while Rahul was dismissed in the final over on 102 off 64 balls with 11 boundaries and four maximums.
This was Iyer's fourth ODI hundred and first in a World Cup while Rahul beat Rohit's record for the fastest WC century for India by reaching triple figures in just 62 balls.
"Not gotten a lot of time (in the middle) in the last two games, so it was nice to get some time today. Batting at 5, it's important to get that confidence, it was a good knock.
"Getting that confidence to hit sixes towards the end was important. It's not rocket science, got to go hard in the last 10 overs. Tried to get as many runs as possible, that was the plan Need to win this game and look forward to the semis," Rahul said at the mid-innings break.
