India skipper MS Dhoni believes India have picked up their intensity and the side is ready to get over the disappointment of 2007.
By Rajarshi Gupta in Dhaka
Never before would a defeat have been as rubbed in as the one India faced against Bangladesh four years back in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007.
The former world champions want revenge while the Tigers want to repeat history. However, India are far stronger now even though a much improved Bangladesh have the advantage of playing at home.
Dhoni, who was part of the side that went down rather meekly against Tamim Iqbal’s assault, is now considered the best captain in the world. He was in no mood to get into a war of words on the eve of the opening tie of the ICC CWC 2011 against co-hosts Bangladesh but the Indian wicketkeeper let out a veiled warning.
“We don’t want to repeat the mistakes we made in 2007. The team didn’t lack anything back then and in fact the side four years ago was as good as the one now. Bangladesh are a good side and they have done well over the last two years, so it will be a tough encounter on Saturday..
“The tournament has actually started with such a good opening ceremony and we have picked up the intensity to our game,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni conceded Bangladesh had it in them to cause some damage, especially with the kind of destructive power at their disposal: “All their players contribute to the side and they have some good spinners and attacking batsmen.”
India, the captain said, would stick to their ploy of drying up the opposition with spinners in operation but admitted a lot of that strategy will depend on the conditions in hand.
“Our strength has always been spinners but it all depends on the conditions. Rest assured, the seamers will come in handy too when the ball reverse swings. Once the ball gets old, rotating the strike will become difficult, especially if the wicket is slow.
“Part-time spinners will be crucial. Besides Yuvraj Singh, others can contribute too.”
However, seam bowling has been a nightmare for the Indians and their lack of impact was underlined in the two warm-up games, where spinners ran the show. Fitness has been a moot point as well and with Zaheer Khan racing against time to take the field on Saturday, the Jharkhand bomber would have some moments of sleeplessness. None of the anxiety showed, though..
“In the warm-up games, we went by what the conditions demanded. We had the option of using spinners in both the matches and they delivered for us. I had planned to use the fast bowlers in the last ten overs of power play but New Zealand were bowled out before that.”
Dhoni said India would not stick to a particular batting position and some of the middle-order resources would be used as floaters.
“Floaters will be effective in sub-continental conditions and I am relying on that.”
The captain was wary of predicting a safe score for the opener, given how close some of India’s matches have gone despite posting big scores on the board.
“Nothing is a safe score in ODI’s anymore. We scored over 400 runs against Sri Lanka and won by just one-run. Any score can be good,” Dhoni said.
There was a question mark on Zaheer’s fitness but the skipper brushed it aside: “Zak looks fit as of now. Let’s wait and watch.”
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