ICC World Cup 2011: Srikkanth advises India to enjoy cricket on home conditions
Kris Srikkanth, India’s chairman of selectors, advised his side to enjoy playing cricket in front of home fans instead of crumbling under pressure.
“I advise the players to play to their natural abilities, do not put pressure on yourself,” Srikkanth stated to the media in a World Cup event, on Wednesday.
He added that the team needs to be relaxed and the players need to learn to enjoy the games that they win. However, he conceded that there will be immense pressure as India will be playing in the home conditions in front of a cricket-crazy home crowd.
“...the players have to cope with it and come out as winners,” Srikkanth stated.
The coveted cricket event will commence from February 19th, 2011 and will be jointly hosted by three Test nations of the Subcontinent, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 along with India.
Srikkanth, who was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, stated that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 will do well in the tournament with their strong batting line-up coupled with the experience that they have in batting friendly conditions.
The former flamboyant Indian batsman recalled his side’s 1983 triumph saying that they were deemed as the underdogs.
“...there was pressure on us, I think it is good in a way because you are not favoured to win,” the former player added.
On other hand, the current Indian squad is hailed by experts to be one of the best in the world, and one that could walk away with the World Cup trophy this year.
India boast a successful mix of young batsmen in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820, India are clearly emerging as the hot favourites to lift the cup for the second time since 1983.
The Indian fans, especially have pinned high hopes with the team but critics are somewhat skeptical that towering expectations might affect their performance adversely.
However, Srikkanth maintained that India must learn to capitalize on their strong unit of spinners and batsmen, saying that there are many individual players who can be “potential match winners.”, but their focus should be on the need to work as a team in order to achieve the desired results.
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