Thaindian News

Mohali, March 3 (IANS) Dutch captain Peter Borren said Thursday that his team was looking forward to playing co-hosts India following their massive 231-run defeat against South Africa in a World Cup Group B match here Thursday.

The loss here at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium was Netherlands’ third consecutive in the 2011 World Cup. But they have not lost hope and are eager to perform well against India in their next match in Delhi, March 9.

“India are a tough side and their batting line-up is unbelievably strong. It is going to be a real challenge for us to play against them in their own backyard,” said Borren at the post-match conference.

Borren was unhappy with his bowlers’ performance against South Africa and said against India they will have a tough job. The Dutch bowlers were successful in containing the South African batsman till the 40th over but some brutal hitting from Ab de Villiers and J.P. Duminy saw them leaking 136 runs in the last ten overs.

“I think against England we batted really well but it’s pretty disappointing here today. We bowled well till 38-40 overs. We just didn’t take wickets. If you don’t take wickets against big teams, it is eventually going to hurt you,” he said.

“It is disappointing that we couldn’t bowl full and straight in the end. We could have bowled in the slot and length deliveries towards the end.”

Borren praised AB de Villiers (134) and Hashim Amla (113) and called them magnificient players.

“Amla and de Villiers are magnificent players. Even when we bowled them well they were scoring quite easily. They are two best players in the world and it is a good experience for us to come up against two best guys.”

On winning the toss and bowling first, he said: “There was rain last night and we wanted to make the most of the early morning conditions. We had to beat the middle order batsmen but we didn’t. Initially, Graeme Smith and Amla saw off the new ball with a little bit of luck and some good bowling.”