CWC 2023: “They’ve played some incredible cricket,” Dutch coach Ryan Cook hails Team India

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India]: Ahead of Netherlands’ match against India in the ODI World Cup 2023 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, the Dutch coach Ryan Cook praised Rohit Sharma’s side and said that the ‘Men in Blue’ have played some incredible cricket at the tournament.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Cook said that India have played a dominating cricket in the ODI World Cup 2023 and are top of the table for a reason.

The Dutch coach added that India have quality players in their squad and look very organised in the tournament.

“We praise straight back at him and his team. I think they’ve played some incredible cricket over the tournament, obviously won all their matches, and played some dominating cricket as well. Top of the table for a reason. You can see it. They’ve got a high quality of players.

They look very well-organised and obviously favourites for the tournament going forward. So, obviously, praise back to him rather than praise to us really,” Cook said.

He added that the Dutch side are looking forward to the game against India in Bengaluru. He also said that they will be testing their skills up against the table toppers.

“We obviously looking forward to the game tomorrow. It’ll be a great occasion on Diwali at the Chinnaswamy. Obviously, lots of excitement around that for our team. And yeah, really looking forward to testing our skills up against the table toppers,” he added.

Cook talked about their performance in the tournament and said that they pride themselves on their training.

He added that it’s their first time in India and getting used to the conditions and playing in these conditions is a real privilege for them.

“We pride ourselves on our training. Often our optional training sessions become 14 or 15 men strong. So, we’ve obviously used the facilities as well as we can. We’ve trained really hard for pretty much everyone in the squad.

It’s their first time in India and to obviously get used to these conditions and play in these conditions is a real privilege for us and something that we don’t take for granted and we’re very grateful for,” he added.

Cook heaped praise on his Dutch side and said that he was very proud of the squad for putting much effort into the tournament.

“I’ve been very proud personally of the effort that all the guys have put in. We hit this last game, last on the leg, but you would never know that by being in and around the team – you’d never sort of see a dull moment, the connection between the group, the cohesion, the unity that we stand for is probably even stronger than it’s ever been,” he added.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.

Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (C), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.