ICC World Cup 2011: India aim to start World Cup with a win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747
India is one of the firm favourites for the ICC 2011 World Cup and they start their campaign with a match against co-hosts Bangladesh, which is set to take place at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur.
The venue has been the most successful one for the Bangladeshis, who have won as many as 18 matches there. Besides the win they start the match with a psychological advantage.
That is one advantage that the Indians are not willing to talk about after they were bundled out of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean by the then minnows of the game with a crushing 5 wickets defeat at Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The first round exit in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 is one of the darkest moments in Indian cricket history and they would be entering the match with a thought about the game even though they deny that they are even thinking about the events at Trinidad four years ago.
"We haven't even thought about it”. Dhoni said when asked whether the 2007 defeat was playing on their minds, "because we don't want to repeat what happened in 2007", stated Dhoni, who was part of the team that succumbed that day.
The Indians have since grown into a much more confident team that has the great ability to win closely fought matches. They are one of the in-form teams and have had a fantastic year in 2010, where they toppled the best in the business in home conditions.
As such they have the most powerful team that has the variety and talent needed for Subcontinent conditions.
The Indians have a battery of spin bowlers, who would be the key to their success in the tournament as well as the opening game against the Bangladeshis.
The duo of Harbhajan Singh and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ravichandran-Ashwin-c84208, proving in recent months that he is one of the toughest bowlers to face at the death of the innings,
with his guiles and uncanny knack of picking wickets by choking runs.
Despite the advantages, Dhoni stated that the pressure of doing well is immense. The Indian cricket fans adore their team at the same time they expect and sometimes demand a good performance by the team all the time.
World Cup hysteria has already found its way into every nook and corner of the country.
Dhoni admitted that his team was under pressure. However, he found an intelligent way to answer the question at a recent press conference.
"I would have told you the exact figure", he said at one point, "If I had a machine to measure the pressure". Indian players hardly need to be reminded about what is expected of them. "What to do", Dhoni said in response to another
question, "There is pressure if you win, there is pressure if you lose".
The conditions favour the Indians and they have the ammunition, yet it is pertinent to add here that no team has won the tournament as hosts. India would have to do something really special to knock the voodoo off.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rubel-Hossain-c2378.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293, 11 Munaf Patel.
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