Cricket World Cup: India v Netherlands at Delhi

India will look for a win that will take them one step closer to qualifying as the top team in Group A, when they take on the Netherlands at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Wednesday, March 9. >

India are currently in top spot in Group A, after winning two games and drawing one. However, they will still have to beat South Africa, especially if South Africa win all the other games.

For the Netherlands, this could be another chance to show that they could be world beaters. They have been disappointing in the last two games, after a promising performance against England in the first game. They could become better here, especially considering India’s bowling problems.>

They resurfaced again in their win against Ireland in the last game. They had Yuvraj Singh to get them the breakthroughs but the frontline spinners were disappointing once again. Harbhajan Singh is economical but teams are happy to play him out and target the other bowlers. A few wickets here can improve his confidence ahead of the two big games against South Africa and the West Indies. This match could also be Piyush Chawla’s last chance in this tournament.

India’s batting has been excellent in this tournament and this could be a problem for the Netherlands if India bat first. Virendar Sehwag would have been mad at himself after getting out cheaply against Ireland. Sachin Tendulkar could be rested for this game and Gautam Gambhir may open the innings.

The Netherlands will want to better their performances against the West Indies and South Africa. They bowled well for most parts of both the games but leaked runs in the last ten overs.

They wouldn’t want to repeat that against a side that has Yusuf Pathan in it. It is hard to imagine the Netherlands beating the home nation and this should be a comfortable win for India.