Captain Peter Borren provided the late sparks with some lusty hitting as The Netherlands lost their way after a steady start to be skittled out for 189 in 46.4 overs in their cricket World Cup Group—B league match against India, here on Wednesday.
Three Dutch batsmen — Eric Szwarczynski (28), Wesley Barresi (26) and Tom Cooper (29) got the starts but could not translate it into big knocks as the minnows lost wickets at regular intervals on a placid Ferozeshah Kotla track.
The opening pair put on 56 runs but the other batsmen succumbed rather tamely against a disciplined Indian bowling attack which exploited the conditions well.
The visitors could have been in bigger trouble had it not been for Borren’s 36-ball 38 and Muddasar Bukhari’s (21) late onslaught. Zaheer Khan was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 3 for 20 while Yuvraj Singh (2/43) and Piyush Chawla (2/47) and Ashish Nehra (1/22) were the other wicket-takers.
The Netherlands begins well
Electing to bat after winning the toss, Netherlands appeared to be on track for a decent score with the openers negotiating the Indian bowlers without any difficulty.
Barresi hit the first boundary of the innings by crisply driving Ashish Nehra to the long off fence while his opening partner Szwarczynski also made his intentions clear by spanking pace spearhead Zaheer to the boundary.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced off-spinner Yusuf Pathan as early as the fourth over of the innings and he bowled a tidy first over giving away just two runs.
Harbhajan was introduced in the seventh over as the Indians tried to put pressure on the minnows with a double spin attack.
Chawla breaks resistance
The Dutch openers put on 56 runs for the first wicket before leg-spinner Chawla provided the breakthrough for the Indians by getting rid of Szwarczynski much to the delight of the home crowd.
Chawla, who has been a trifle disappointing in the previous matches, got the wicket with a googly as the batsman tried to cut the ball but only to see his stumps being knocked down.
Yuvraj gets in on the act
The Netherlands lost their second wicket just eight runs later with part-timer Yuvraj Singh claiming his 100th ODI wicket when he accounted for Baressi who seemed to be quite comfortable at the crease.
Barresi was hit on the pads with a delivery that straightened after pitching and umpire Steve Davis had no hesitation in ruling him out.
The batsman then asked for a review and there was no change in the decision. The only bone of contention was whether it hit bat before hitting the pad. Replays showed it hit the front-pad first.
Yuvraj struck for his team again by dismissing Netherlands’ key batsman Ryan ten Doeschate (11) who failed to time his shot properly and Zaheer Khan took a well-judged catch at long off just a few metres within the boundary.
Then it was Nehra’s turn to take the spotlight as he got rid of Tom Cooper with a brilliant off-cutter and captain Dhoni made no mistake with the edge.
Bas Zuiderent, who joined the action after Cooper’s dismissal, did not trouble the scorers as Zaheer send him back with a gem of a delivery which came in sharply and trapped the batsman in-front of the wicket.
Zuiderant went for a review and the third umpire also vindicated Davis’s original decision.
A few minutes later, Tom de Grooth was run out going for a suicidal run and the Dutch innings lay in tatters.
From a rather comfortable 99 for two, the Dutchmen suddenly slumped to a precarious 108 for six as India’s pace bowlers made a much better impression with the old ball.
Captain Peter Borren hit some lusty shots at the fag end of the innings to take the Netherlands score beyond the 150-run mark which looked doubtful at one stage.
Borren singled out Piyush Chawla for special treatment by clobbering him for two consecutive sixes in his last over.
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