NEW DELHI – India go into their World Cup match against the Netherlands Wednesday sitting on top of Group B and look certain to qualify for the quarter-finals but with lingering doubts over their bowling attack. The host nation have won two of their three matches for a total of five points, the same number as England and one ahead of West Indies and South Africa. But while India’s powerful batting line-up has been firing, there are fears that the bowling does not have the strength required to hurt other powerful teams and a lack of options could cost them.
Speaking after India’s win over minnows Ireland on Sunday, victorious captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was delighted his middle-order batsmen had spent time at the crease and saw signs of improvement in the bowling.
India never looked in serious danger of falling short in their chase of Ireland’s total of 207, winning by five wickets with most of the batsmen chipping in.Yuvraj Singh was the man-of-the-match for his five for 31 and 50 not out. “I think the most important thing is that everyone got a chance to bat. We were batting under pressure,” Dhoni added, saying it was good for players lower down the order such as number seven Yusuf Pathan to spend time in the middle.
“We are showing signs of improvement, which is good. I feel it’s important to peak at the right time because it’s a long tournament so definitely what we have seen is slow and gradual improvement on the bowling side,” he said. “Our exceptional fielders can get better but our slow fielders will remain the same.” India look likely to continue with their policy of playing just four specialist bowlers, meaning they will be relying heavily on the likes of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan as well as their collection of part-timers.
Former Australian Test batsman Mark Waugh said India’s strong batting compensated for their lack of specialist bowling options. Writing in the Times of India, he said: “The batsmen compensate their bowling arsenal and on paper, under these conditions, they possess one of the best batting line-ups in the tournament.”
“India do have the option of going in with five bowlers in place of the four that they usually prefer. I do not, however, think that is necessarily the right way to go about it because Yuvraj Singh can do a good job as a fifth bowler and bowl his quota,” he added.
The home side are unlikely to be tested against the Netherlands, who ran England close in their opener, thanks to a sparkling 119 from Ryan ten Doeschate, but have since struggled. The Dutch scored an impressive 292 against England but slumped to a huge 215-run defeat to the West Indies and lost by 231 runs against South Africa.
Skipper Peter Borren said Wednesday’s game at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium would be a tough proposition. “India are a tough side as their batting line-up has some unbelievable cricketers,” said Borren.
“It’s going to be a real challenge for us to play against them in India. Hopefully, we can do a little bit better against India than we did against South Africa.”
The Netherlands are currently rooted at the bottom of Group B after three defeats. Ireland and tournament co-hosts Bangladesh have two points each.
