Watch: As the Netherlands bids India farewell, Virat Kohli gives a shirt to Roelof van der Merwe.

In their last league match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the Netherlands lost to India by a humiliating 160 runs.

Though they didn’t place high in the standings, the Scott Edwards-led team has delighted the crowd with their outstanding performances for almost a month. They were on the verge of qualifying for the Champions Trophy 2025 after defeating Bangladesh and South Africa, but sadly, things didn’t go as planned.

The players were seen thanking the spectators for their unwavering support and waving at them following their final league game. Nevertheless, following the game, renowned batsman Virat Kohli was spotted giving his jersey to former teammate Roelof van der Merwe of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. When ICC posted the same video to Instagram, it quickly gained widespread virality on social media.

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India, a team with excellent balance, will be difficult to defeat. Merwe

With nine victories in a row, the Men in Blue are in incredible form in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. Rohit Sharma’s team will play New Zealand in the semi-final, which should be a difficult game. Despite India’s victory over the Kiwis in their league match, the Kane Williamson-led team consistently won against India in elimination games.

On the other hand, veteran Roelof van der Merwe thinks India have a very good team and it will be very hard to defeat them. He thinks the “Men in Blue” can win a lot of games because they have a lot of game-winners on their squad. Merwe was quick to note that defeating either of the semi-finalists would not be simple for them.

“You know, India has a really balanced side. All the way through, they have match-winners. They have demonstrated that so far in this World Cup. It will be extremely difficult to defeat them as a team. The other teams, including South Africa, have players who have won matches, and Australia is consistently better than New Zealand. The 38-year-old stated in the post-match press conference, “I think India does shape up well, so it is going to be very, very interesting.”