Watch: Virat Kohli gifts jersey to Roelof van der Merwe as Netherlands bid goodbye to India

Roelof van der Merwe and Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: ICC/Instagram)

The Netherlands suffered an embarrassing 160-run defeat at the hands of India in their final league game, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru. However, despite finishing at the bottom of the table, the Scott Edwards-led have entertained the mass, with their brilliant performances for nearly a month. They went up to win against South Africa and Bangladesh and were close to qualifying for the Champions Trophy 2025, but that unfortunately didn’t go according to the plan.

Meanwhile, after their final league game, the players were spotted waving at the crowd and thanking them for their continuous support. On the other hand, legendary cricketer Virat Kohli was seen handing his jersey to former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Roelof van der Merwe after the match. ICC shared the video of the same on Instagram and it instantly went viral all over social media.

India is a very well-balanced side, will be a tough team to beat: Merwe

The Men in Blue are in extraordinary form in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, winning all of their nine matches so far. Next up, the Rohit Sharma-led side will take on New Zealand in the semi-final, which can prove to be a difficult task. Even though India managed to win their league match against the Kiwis, but the Kane Williamson-led side always had the upper hand in knockout matches against India.

The veteran Roelof van der Merwe, however, believes that India have a very strong unit and it will be extremely difficult to beat them. He believes that the ‘Men in Blue’ have a lot of match-winners in the team and hence, can go the distance. However, Merwe was quick to point out that it would not be easy for them to beat either of the semi-finalists.

“Look, India is a very well-balanced side. They have match-winners all the way through. They have shown it in this World Cup thus far. They are going to be a very tough team to beat. The other teams also, South Africa, has got match winners in their team and the consistency of New Zealand and Australia is Australia. So, it is going to be very, very interesting, but I think India does shape up well,” the 38-year-old said in the post-match conference.