News from ICC World Cup 2011: India won their match against Netherlands by 5 wickets. India successfully chased the target of 190 with 81 balls still to spare.
For those people who hadn't watched the match live, the news highlighted above might give a false idea that it was pretty one-sided, because India chased the target with 5 wickets and 81 balls to go.
But, was it really a piece of cake for India? For me, it was the most irresponsible batting display from Indian batsmen. Too much aggressiveness cost them their wickets. Sehwag went back to pavillion in an attempt to hit his 3rd successive boundary. Tendulkar fell in the same fashion while trying to hit the ball straight above the head of the fielder. Yusuf Pathan, ok, for this lad, we expect aggressiveness, but he also gave a catch back to bowler after hitting a couple of boundaries. All these 3 wickets were taken by the same bowler, slow orthodox spinner Seelaar. Seelar should also get some credit for bowling the cheesy deliveries that attracted these batsmen like "ant to sugar". India had to work hard to get to that target that looked to be an easy goal at first glance. Thanks to Yuvraj Singh again, who remained unbeaten at 51. It seems India had no definite plan against the minnows. They are taking them very lightly and are targeting only for the big encounter. India had the similar result against Ireland. Chasing the target of 208, they lost 5 wickets. Yuvraj Singh was savior there as well; he not only took 5 crucial wickets, but also made 50 not out to take India past the target. For the team capable of winning the cup, these performances are below standards. I am not underestimating Ireland or Netherlands, but we expect more matured performance from the team of high caliber. Indians were batting like "a car with no brake". It is important that they know when to step on accelerator and when to apply brake. This is a group stage and India is sure to go to another round. I hope the performance level will excel as the team marched towards the ultimate goal, the world cup.
