My review of Team India for the game Vs Netherland

Marks for the Indian Players for the match Vs Netherland

Virender Sehwag – 4/10 – gave a fiery start to the innings but played a rash shot to get out.

Sachin Tendulkar – 4/10 – got out just when he was starting to look good, needed to carry on.

Gautam Gambhir – 3/10 – got a start again like in the previous three matches, looks too fidgety at the moment.

Yuvraj Singh – 7/10 – took 2 wickets and was sharp in the field, made a 50 and took India home in crunch situation just like in the previous match.

MS Dhoni – 5/10 – made some runs and finished the game off in the company of Yuvraj Singh.

Yusuf Pathan – 4/10 – swung the bat wildly to make quick runs but got out cheaply, bowled well.

Virat Kohli – 4/10 – was good in the field and contributed some runs.

Harbhajan Singh – 2/10 –as a senior spinner in the side failed to take even a single wicket, though was very stingy in giving away runs.

Zaheer Khan – 6/10 – started excellently, picked up 3 wickets… looked sharp, looks in good shape.

Ashish Nehra – 4/10 – bowled ok, picked up a solitary wicket, was his first match in this World Cup.

Piyush Chawla – 2/10 – bowled short balls and long hops... though he got wickets today but he was very lucky to get them!

Overall Points

Batting – 5/10

Bowling – 7/10

Team – 6/10

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 8^th 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 37^th 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.

India Vs Netherland - Match Preview

This is India’s last match against the so called minnows or a weak team. This is the last game where they can experiment a bit with their team combination. I would love to see them go into the match with 5 genuine bowlers as this is their weak point at the moment.

This would provide more flexibility to this side and as it is you cannot expect Yuvraj Singh to pick up 5 wickets against stronger opponents. My five bowlers would be Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin. I would drop either Yousuf Pathan (more likely) or Gautam Gambhir to accommodate the extra bowler.

India should be able to win this comfortably but as Ireland showed against England as also to a certain extent against India, no team in this World Cup can be taken lightly.

Key Battles to look out for in the match between India and Netherland on this Wednesday, the 9th of March 2011 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

1. Indian Fast Bowlers VS Ryan Ten Doeschate

2. Harbhajan Singh VS the Netherland middle order