Thursday, March 10, 2011

India Vs Netherland – Match Review

India Vs Netherland – 09 March 2011, ICC Cricket World Cup, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

India made just one change from the previous match (Ashish Nehra came in for Munaf Patel). The Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first on the Kotla pitch.

The Indian bowling was tight but once again they did not look threatening, the first wicket fell after the Dutch had crossed 50 runs. Though Piyush Chawla took 2 wickets but there was nothing new that he dished out, the same long hops and short balls, just like he had against England and against Ireland. They managed 189 in the end with a few lusty hits to the boundary in the slog overs.

India came out blazing, trying to finish off the match in probably 20 overs, raced to 69 without loss in the 8th over but then were in a spot of bother again at 99/4 just like they were Vs Ireland. Yuvraj Singh once again hit a steady 50 and MS Dhoni gave him company till the end this time around. India won the match by 5 wickets in the 37th over, but not without a hiccup.

Indian batting has not looked comfortable at all in chasing down even small totals. They need to quickly iron out the flaws as now only big games are left and they seem to have one too many crease to iron at the moment!!!

And a word on Netherland – they showed glimpses of brilliance just like the Irish had a few days against India, they had their moments in the match, even though they ended up on the losing side.

No comments: