This will be India's last game against one of the minnows - unless, of course, one of them manages to qualify for the quarter-finals. So this is basically India's last chance to get their bowling attack right and fix any issues with the team, because every game after this is a big one, starting with South Africa on Saturday.
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| The captains: Borren and Dhoni |
Now the Netherlands scored 290+ against England, which may make you think that they could score more against our worse attack, but it's not the same case. It's possible, and it will entirely on Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom Cooper and Bas Zuiderent, but India's part-timers should have good control over this. I say part-timers because the frontline spinners have been the opposite of spectacular. I don't know what the word is, but I believe the Swahili term is "crap".
Chawla bowled some great variations against England and Ireland, mixing up the bad balls with terrible balls quite well. So he should keep his spot. But again, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ashwin, Nehra or Agarkar in the line-up either. Dhoni's keeping everyone guessing by playing his cards close to his barrel.
As for the batting, Sehwag might want to bat 50 overs again, though I don't think he will. I sense big innings from Gambhir and Kohli, with attacking contributions from the lower middle order. You'd better believe it - my predictions tend to be right when I don't watch the game.
Ideal line ups (for me):
India: Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni (c)(wk), Pathan, Chawla, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra.
Netherlands: Kervezee, Barresi (wk), Cooper, Zuiderent, ten Doeschate, de Grooth, Borren (c), Bukhari, Seelaar, Loots, Westdijk.
Official-looking prediction: India will crush them. Or not. But probably.
PS. Chawla has been a disaster.
Official-looking prediction: India will crush them. Or not. But probably.
PS. Chawla has been a disaster.
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