ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 36: India vs Netherlands | Preview and Predictions

After securing their place in the Super Eights following their win over Pakistan, defending champions and co-hosts India will look to head to the Super Eights with a flawless record in the Group Stage. Going up against the Men in Blue will be Netherlands, aiming to finish their World Cup campaign on a high. 

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the 36th game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 between India and Netherlands

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 36: IND vs NED | 19:00, February 18, 2026 

The defending champions India are looking like the side to beat as Suryakumar Yadav and his boys have had a flawless run so far in the World Cup and will be looking to fix all the small chinks in their armour before moving ahead to the next stage. Abhishek Sharma returned from illness to the team for the Pakistan game but scored his second duck, in as many games, and that would be India’s only cause of concern in the batting department. Barring Sharma’s form, the remainder of the batters have stepped up when needed with Ishan Kishan looking like the key factor. India will hope Sharma gets back amongst the runs in the final Group Stage game and hope that their lower order gets some time in the middle as well. The bowling has been clinical from Yadav’s boys as there have been regular breakthroughs with the new ball before the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel have choked the opponents in the middle overs. 

Netherlands started their campaign with a narrow loss to Pakistan but hit back with a comfortable win over Namibia. The batting has been the issue for the Dutch as they have struggled against the spinning and gripping ball and against a strong spin attack of India, they will be put to the test again. The bowling hasn’t been able to provide regular breakthroughs which has been a problem and the lack of wickets has been a major issue for the Dutch. 

The Narendra Modi Stadium has seen runs in this tournament and expect runs on the board should the hosts bat first with India expected to close out their Group Stage campaign with a win over the minnows.  

Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy (vc), Arshdeep Singh, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Winners Prediction: India