Cricket India

Netherlands, after making a bright start to their tournament, slowly faded away as they crashed to magnanimous defeats against South Africa and West Indies while India remain the only team yet to be beaten in Group B. A win in Delhi against the Orange army will seal India’s spot in the quarters but MS Dhoni and his boys know that complacency could be dangerous. The Dutch on the other hand will secretly be harboring dreams of a quarterfinal berth. An upset victory at the Ferozshah Kotla will leave them with a realistic task of beating Ireland and Bangladesh in their next two games.

Batting has been India’s greatest strength and it covers the weakness of an ordinary bowling attack. After missing out against Ireland, Sehwag and Gambhir will be keen to make amends in front of their home crowd. Apart from his fabulous century against England, Tendulkar has got off to starts and he’ll be looking for another big one in Delhi. Yuvraj Singh spent some valuable time in the middle against Ireland while Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan will be licking their lips looking at Netherlands’ ordinary bowling attack. The Indian bowlers, led by Yuvraj did well to restrict the Irish for 203. However the pressure will be on Harbhajan, who has struggled to take wickets so far. Ashwin might find himself in the playing XI ahead of Chawla while Zaheer Khan might be rested giving Sreesanth or Nehra a chance to prove their worth.

The Dutch batting and their dependency on Ten Doeschate has been the cause of their misery so far. Kervezee and Barresi have failed to get a decent opening stand so far while the experienced Bas Zuiderant has been a flop show so far. Left arm spinner Pieter Seelar has been the find of the tournament for the Dutch so far but it remains to be seen if he can keep his head against the established batsmen of India. The Kotla track has been slow and assisted the spinners in the three matches played here and Netherlands will be looking to give Adeel Raja a chance in the playing XI.

For the Netherlands, mostly a football and hockey nation, this will be the first time they will be playing in front of a jam packed stadium and they wouldn’t want to lose this opportunity to leave a mark on the Indian crowd.

Probable Teams:

Netherlands: Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Barresi (Wicketkeeper), Tom Cooper, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderant, Tom de Grooth, Peter Borren (Captain), Mudassar Bukhari, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelar, Bernard Westdjik.

India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Mahender Singh Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth.

Live Telecast: Star Cricket (14:30 Local Time, 9:00 GMT)

Tags: Cricket, Delhi, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India, MS Dhoni, Netherlands, World Cup 2011