Dhoni Says Win against Dutch is Good Enough

After India’s five-wicket win over the Netherlands in a World Cup Group B game here on Wednesday, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni insisted that it was not an unconvincing win.


“Winning is important. It was not a bad win. If you see the scorecard, it says India won by five wickets. Pressure was mounting during the middle overs. It was a concern with four wickets down,” Dhoni told reporters after the match. “Overall, it was a good experience because all of a sudden you don’t want your middle order exposed straight away against the big teams. You can say everybody has had a fair amount of exposure,” he reasoned. On India’s inability to take wickets with the new ball, Dhoni pointed out the conditions were not favourable.

“Taking wickets with new ball is important because with the conditions in subcontinent, you can stop the opposition from scoring at a brisk pace. We have not been able to do that, but it does not mean we can’t do that,” he said. Ashish Nehra played his first match but did not bowl his full quota of overs.

“It has nothing to do with his fitness. The ball was coming on nicely to the bat. They are used to playing seam bowlers and not spin bowling,” Dhoni said.

The skipper defended Piyush Chawla, who bagged two wickets. “Chawla had a good start in the warm-up games. He had a decent game and then struggled a bit. People are criticising him and you can understand his mental state. Overall, am happy with his performance,” he said.

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