Holland should have shown more intent against India

Dutch batsmen should have shown more intent against the Indians, says West Indies expert Ian Bishop

On the eve of his team's clash against India, Holland skipper Peter Borren emphasised on his team's desire to 'take their chances' and put up a brave performance against the World Cup favourites.

Electing to bat here at Feroz Shah Kotla, the Netherlands' technical deficiencies, lack of courage, and inability to put India's bowlers under pressure meant they were shot out for 189. But they restored some pride with a lively fielding display. However that does not discount the fact that the Dutch, especially their batsmen, don't deserve to play a World Cup. Sadly, the Indian bowlersu00a0 left no stone unturned in trying to make their life
easier. Ashish Nehra looked rusty and bowled just one over in his first spell; Piyush Chawla bowled too many short-of-a-length googlies; Harbhajan Singh bowled a round-the-wicket line, to a packed off-side field, cramping the right-handers ufffd rarely inviting them to drive down the wicket. Zaheer Khan, in a continuing trend, appeared the only bowler deserving of a wicket.

For the Netherlands' batsmen, it was a combination of poor timing, inability to pierce gaps, a barrage of premeditated cross-batted strokes, and staying on the back-foot to the spinners.

Chance wasted
While the Dutch openers denied the hosts a breakthrough for 15.2 overs, the middle-order squandered away the advantage. In fact, it was Borren's late 38-run blitz that helped them recover from 127-7 to 189 all out.

Former West Indies paceman Ian Bishop, on the commentary panel, agreed there was a problem with India's bowling and the Dutch batting.

"I didn't see much improvement in India's attack. There's way too much dependence on Zaheer Khan. The South Africans are not great players of spin bowling, but much better than the Dutch, so India might need to rethink their strategy. Chawla is bowling too many bad balls, he got away with murder today. We cannot continue to criticise the lesser teams because they rarely play against top teams. But the Dutch batsmen should have shown more intent," said the Trinidadian.

Eric Szwarczynksi, Wesley Barresi, Alexei Kerveeze and Bas Zuiderent were all victims of a defensive mindset, staying on the back-foot excessively. More than a dozen longhops and bad balls from Yusuf Pathan and Chawla were not dealt with aptly.

Sorry, but India shouldn't be proud of this performance. Chawla got both his wickets by hurrying the batsmen, who were perennially on the back-foot.

Madan Lal, a member of India's 1983 World Cup winning side, believed Nehra was not fully fit yet.

"I feel it's a safer option to go back to Munaf Patel for the South Africa game. Nehra looks very rusty, and I don't think he can bowl a good 10-over spell. This is a batsman's World Cup, and every bowler needs to be in top form," said Madan. "Chawla is bowling too fast, and too flat. If he keeps bowling googlies, good quality batsmen will hit him through the on-side without any problems. Yuvraj is bowling better," concluded Madan.