DELHI, India, CMC – World Cup favourites India survived a brief scare before rolling over minnows Netherlands by five wickets to remain unbeaten and on top of Group B yesterday.
Chasing an uncomplicated 190 for victory, India lost three wickets for 19 runs in 32 balls to slump to 99 for a nervy four in the 15th over, before Yuvraj Singh pummeled an unbeaten 51 to get the hosts home with overs and effort to spare.
They now have seven points from four matches, two ahead of the second placed England with whom they shared a tied match.
India appeared to be coasting towards an easy victory when Virender Sehwag (39) and Sachin Tendular gathered a hasty 69 from 45 balls in a robust opening stand at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.
In typical style, Sehwag clobbered five fours and two sixes off 26 balls while Tendulkar stroked six fours off 22 balls.
Slow left-armer Pieter Seelaar (3-53), however, turned the match on his head when he snatched three quick wickets – including both openers – to send India tumbling to 82 for three.
When Virat Kohli was bowled by medium pacer Peter Borren for 12 at 99, India were in a spot of bother. But Yuvraj, who faced 73 balls and hit seven fours, posted 40 for the fifth wicket with Gautam Gambhir (28) before anchoring an unbroken 52-run sixth wicket stand with captain MS Dhoni (19), to see India home.
Earlier, Borren top-scored with a swift 38 from 36 balls with three fours and two sixes to lead the Netherlands charge after they won the toss and chose to bat first.
Openers Eric Szwarczynski (28) and Wesley Barresi (26) shared a 56-run opening stand but when they departed, wickets fell regularly as left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan (3-20), Yuvraj Singh (2-43) and Piyush Chawla (2-47) undermined the innings.
SCOREBOARD
NETHERLANDS
E Szwarczynski b Chawla 28
+W Barresi lbw b Yuvraj 26
T Cooper c Dhoni b Nehra 29
R ten Doeschate c Zaheer b Yuvraj 11
A Kervezee c Harbhajan b Chawla 11
B Zuiderent lbw b Khan 0
T de Grooth run out 5
*P Borren c Nehra b Zaheer 38
B Kruger run out 8
Mudassar Bukhari b Zaheer 21
P Seelaar not out 0
Extras (b6, lb3, w2, nb1) 12
TOTAL (all out, 46.4 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Szwarczynski, 15.2 overs), 2-64 (Barresi, 19), 3-99 (ten Doeschate, 28.2), 4-100 (Cooper, 29.1), 5-101 (Zuiderent, 31, 6-108 (de Grooth, 34.2), 7-127 (Kervezee, 38.1), 8-151 (Kruger, 42.2), 9-189 (Borren, 46.1), 10-189 (Mudassar Bukhari, 46.4)
Bowling: Zaheer 6.4-0-20-3, Nehra 5-1-22-1, Pathan 6-1-17-0, Harbhajan 10-0-31-0, Chawla 10-0-47-2, Yuvraj 9-1-43-2.
INDIA
V Sehwag c Kervezee b Seelaar 39
S Tendulkar c Kruger b Seelaar 27
Y Pathan c & b Seelaar 11
G Gambhir b Mudassar Bukhari 28
V Kohli b Borren 12
Yuvraj Singh not out 51
*+MS Dhoni not out 19
Extras (w4) 4
TOTAL (5 wkts, 36.3 overs) 191
Did not bat: Harbhajan Singh, P Chawla, Z Khan, A Nehra.
Fall of wickets: 1-69 (Sehwag, 7.3 overs), 2-80 (Tendulkar, 9.1), 3-82 (Pathan, 9.5), 4-99 (Kohli, 14.3), 5-139 (Gambhir, 23.1)
Bowling: Bukhari 6-1-33-1, ten Doeschate 7-0-38-0, Seelaar 10-1-53-3, Borren 8-0-33-1, Cooper 2-0-11-0, Kruger 3.3-0-23-0.
Result: India won by five wickets.
Points: India 2, Netherlands 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Yuvraj Singh.
Umpires: Steve Davis, Bruce Oxenford; TV – Billy Doctrove.
