Delhi, March 9: Yuvraj Singh once again saw India through in a nervy run chase as the hosts beat Netherlands by five wicketsin a Group B 2011 ICC World Cup game played in Delhi. Yuvraj’s innings of 51* come immediately after his unbeaten half-century against Ireland that saw India win that game by a similar margin.
Set to chase a target of 189, India began in style with Virender Sehwag smashing his way to 39 off just 26 deliveries. The opener also hit a couple of sixes in his brief stay at the wicket. Sachin Tendulkar, too, seemed in good touch, helping himself to 27 off just 22 deliveries. The master brought up his 2000 runs in World Cup competitions by hitting three consecutive fours off Ryan ten Doeschate in the fourth over of the Indian innings.
But after Dutch left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar had Sehwag caught at point with the score at 69, India went into a bit of a slide. Tendulkar and Yusuf Pathan (11), promoted to No. 3, also fell to Seelaar in the 10th over of the innings. And when Peter Borren struck the next blow for Netherlands in the 15th over to get rid of Virat Kohli (12), India were in distinct trouble with the score reading 99 for four in 14.3 overs.
But Yuvraj calmed Indian nerves by playing a watchful innings. On a Feroz Shah Kotla track where the bounce was on the slower and lower side, Yuvraj first put together a 40-run partnership with Gautam Gambhir (28) for the fifth wicket and then saw India get to the victory target with a 52-run partnership with MS Dhoni (19*). Yuvraj remained unbeaten on 51 (73 balls, 7x4) at the end of the game.
With this win, India maintain their position at the top of Group B with seven points from four games, while Netherlands continue to languish at the bottom of the same group.
Earlier, there was much talk leading into this game regarding the exclusion of Piyush Chawla for R Ashwin from the playing XI. But the Indians sprung a surprise on everyone by playing pacer Ashish Nehra and giving Munaf Patel a break instead. The Dutch made a couple of changes to their squad bringing in Eric Szwarczynski and Bradley Kruger in place of Bernard Loots and Berend Westdjik.
Netherlandscaptain Peter Borren won the toss and opted to bat first. With memories of their dismal batting against West Indies and South Africa still fresh (they were dismissed for 115 and 120 respectively), the Dutch started cautiously. Openers Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Barresi added 50 for the first wicket but did so in 82 balls at just above 3.5 runs-per-over.
But Piyush Chawla struck in the 16th over of the Dutch innings bowling Szwarczynski (28) off a googly. 22 balls later, Barresi (26) made his way back to the pavilion after being trapped lbw by Yuvraj Singh. Wickets fell in a heap thereafter as Netherlands failed to rise to the Indian bowling challenge. From 56 for no loss the visitors crashed to a score of 151 for eight wickets in 42.2 overs.
A 38-run partnership off just 23 deliveries between Peter Borren (38 off 36) and Mudassar Bukhari (21 off 18) for the ninth wicket gave a late fillip to the Dutch innings. But the Indians would be happy to have bowled the Dutch out for 189 in 46.4 overs.
Standing out amongst the bowlers was Zaheer Khan who accounted for the wickets of Bas Zuiderent (0), Borren and Bukhari.
Brief scores: India 191 for five in 36.3 overs (Yuvraj Singh 51*, Virender Sehwag 39, Pieter Seelaar 3/53)beat Netherlands 189 all out in 46.4 overs (Peter Borren 38, Tom Cooper 29, Zaheer Khan 3/20, Piyush Chawla 2/47, Yuvraj Singh 2/43) by five wickets
Man-of-the-match: Yuvraj Singh for another all-round performance. He posted bowling figures of 9-1-43-2 and scored an unbeaten 51.
