India overcome ‘orange’ test
India overcame the jitters in the middle of the chase to go to the top of Group B table by defeating Netherlands by five wickets at Ferozshah Kotla Ground, Delhi.
After Sehwag and Tendulkar took off in pursuit of 190 target set by the Dutch, India lost five quick points but undefeated partnership between Man of the Match Yuvraj Singh and skipper MS Dhoni 52 runs made sure that there are no more hiccups to take India to their third win in the tournament.
Sehwag and Tendulkar got India off to a rollicking start with both in a murderous mood and looking to finish a small target of 190 runs quickly.
The pair scored 69 runs inside eight over before they were separated by left arme spinner Peter Seelar who removed Sehwag for 26-ball 39 including five fours and two sixes by getting him caught at covers.
He followed that with the wickets of Sachin for 27 off 22 balls and Yusuf Pathan promoted to number three for 11 holding on to return catch in his follow through.
India lost two more wickets with Peter Borren getting through Virat Kohli’s defence and Mudasir Bukhari castling Gambhir leaving the chase in a spot of bother with 51 runs more needed.
But Yuvraj who scored his third consecutive fifties in the tournament who was sedate to start with concentrating on picking up singles and keen to be at crease till the target was achieved.
His fifty came off 73 balls with a flick over square-leg boundary that coincided with the winning runs. Dhoni as usual was calm picking up the runs easily and helping his partner and side to achieve another win in the tournament.
For Netherlands, who fielded brilliantly during the chase, Peter Seelar was the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets and conceded 53 runs in his ten over bowling spell.
Opting to bat first, Dutch batsmen couldn’t stand tall against average Indian bowling performance with whole team folded for only 189 runs on a batting beauty track at Ferozshah Kotla.
Netherlands made a cautious but solid start to the innings crossing their fifty in first fifteen overs without losing a wicket. But once openers were separated at the score of 56 runs, Netherlands batsmen crumbled to Indian spinners and fast bowlers to slip to 127 for loss of seven wickets.
Had it not been to 8th and ninth wicket partnerships in the end with both involving skipper peter Borren as one of the batsman, situation could have been more embarrassing for the Dutch.
Piyush Chawla, who bowled lot better today, gave India first wicket by sneaking his googly through Eric Szwarczynski defences and Yuvraj continued on his wicket taking form removing Barresi for 26 runs.
It triggered a collapse with wickets falling in a heap as Yuvraj got the wicket of danger man Ten Doeschate and Nehra came back to force an edge of Tom Cooper’s bat well taken by MS Dhoni behind the stumps.
Things were made difficult for Dutch with Zaheer claiming the wicket of Zudirent and Indian fielders removing two batsmen by getting them run out.
Piyush was lucky to have Kerveeze caught in the deep by Harbhajan after batsmen had failed to connect a long hop from Chawla.
Skipper Borren showed some aggression and fight with his bat and combined with Mudasir Bukhari to put up 23-ball 38 run partnership for the ninth wicket giving some respectability to the total.
Zaheer, who ended the innings with match figures of 3 for 20 runs, came back to end Dutch resistance by removing both batsmen inside three deliveries.
Indian bowlers and fielders looked a touch lethargic on the field going through motions but strong enough to skittle Dutch for a paltry total.
Harbhajan bowled well in his ten over wicket less spell.
Seelar’s three puts brakes on Indian chase
Left arm spinner Peter Seelar took quick three wickets put brakes on Indian chase after openers had started off in an aggressive fashion with score reading at 82 runs for the loss of three wickets at the end of ten overs.
Sehwag and Tendulkar got India off to a rollicking start with both in a murderous mood and looking to finish a small target of 190 runs quickly.
The pair scored 69 runs inside eight over before they were separated by Seelar who removed Sehwag for 26-ball 39 including five fours and two sixes by getting him caught at covers.
He followed that with the wickets of Sachin for 27 off 22 balls and Yusuf Pathan promoted to number three for 11 holding on to return catch in his follow through.
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