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BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 14 (REU-TERS): India's jam-packed itinerary has not only taken a physical toll on the players but could also a� ect their mindset heading into the World Cup, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. Boasting some of the hottest young talent in the game, co-hosts India are one of the favourites to lift the World Cup which begins on Saturday.

But Dhoni warned that the team's men-tal preparation had been hit by the rigors of constantly switching between Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches in the run-up to the World Cup. "The mind-set was not really there. Mentally we were not ready, that's one of the reasons why we couldn't bat well," Dhoni told reporters after India defeated World Cup holders Australia by 38 runs in a warm-up match in Bangalore on Sunday.

"Of course for the warm-up game men-tally it was very di� culty to prepare your-self. "If you play 35 odd ODIs in a year and 10 Test matches and 45 days of IPL and Cham-pions League, then all of a sudden you hear there's a warm-up game, it's a very di� cult scenario to mentally prepare yourself for the game which really refl ected on the fi eld."

India's much-hyped middle order, which included big hitters Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni, failed to get going on Sunday and the only meaningful contributions were a half-century from opener Virender Sehwag and an uncharacteristically slow 32 from Yusuf Pathan. Only a special e� ort from the spinners and an Australian batting collapse turned the game in India's favour.In the ab-sence of Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested due to a hamstring niggle, the procession of India's specialist batsmen came and went without troubling the scorers too much. This is proving to be a cause for concern.

Although the likes of Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina are vastly experienced in ODIs, they are all mak-ing their World Cup debuts - a tournament that is gruelling enough mentally without the added pressure of playing at home. With the old rearguards such as Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly gone, Dhoni will be looking to Sehwag and Yuvraj to draw on their ex-perience in guiding the new crop of players

through the tournament. "You know the kind of talent we have got, we just need to get o� to a good start and the middle order needs to contribute," said Dhoni. Dhoni himself is a key player and will look to draw on his own experience of the 2007 World Cup, where India were eliminated in the group stages. "I am talking about my experience to mentally play in a game like this especially after what we saw in the 2007 World Cup. The fi rst two games were really good for us. After that I don't know where we lost," he added referring to India's unexpect-ed defeat by Bangladesh. With the Indian team boasting the sport's most prolifi c run scorer in Ten-dulkar, the joint second-ranked ODI batsman in the world in Kohli and an explosive hitter of the ball in Sehwag, besides oth-ers, it is a safe assumption that over the next seven weeks, all eyes will be on India's batting. India play their fi nal warm-up match against New Zea-land on Wednesday, and then take on co-hosts Bangladesh in the opening match of the tournament in Dha-ka on February 19.

05 DAYS TO GO03 DAYS TO GO

Cramped calendar hampers mental preparation: Dhoni

INDIA’S STRENGTH IN WORLD CUP 2011MS Dhoni: Skipper MS Dhoni-led Team India has been performing brilliantly in the ongoing South Africa tour. Dhoni is the capable captain and his past performance as a leader invites more expec-tations from him in the World Cup. After early de-bacle in the 2007 World Cup, Dhoni and his side are favourite to win the World Cup in sub-continent. However, Dhoni has made changes in his batting style after the captaincy and emerged as the match fi n-isher for Team India in the past. He is the backbone of Indian middle order and his role will be crucial in India’s World Cup campaign.

Sachin Tendulkar: The Master blaster Sa-chin Tendulkar, the iconic cricketer in world arena, has a great world cup journey until now. He will defi -nitely try to fulfi ll his world cup dream this time. The legendary batsman has almost every record in his kitty but he has always a dream to be a part of win-

ning world cup side. Tendulkar will equal the record of most World Cup appearance this year and will also try to

guide his side towards the title. He is the key player for India in the World Cup. His presence in the fi nal XI means the half job is already done.

Virender Sehwag: The most explosive opener of present era, is the key match winner for India. His role as a part-time bowler is also makes him crucial in the side. His devastating batting style can change the result of game anytime. The open-ing combination of Sehwag and Tendulkar is the most dangerous in the cricket world.

Yusuf Pathan: Yusuf Pathan is the genuine all-rounder in the Indian side. However, inconsistency is the big problem with him. Pathan is a valuable fi fth bowler for India. He is capable to change the mood of game in the lower order.

Zaheer Khan: Zaheer Khan is the spearhead of

Indian pace attack. He is the most experience cam-paigner in the World Cup Squad. He can score with the bat down the order. Zaheer Khan’s performance will set the game for India in the World Cup. He is the genuine wicket taker for the past few years.

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 14 (AFP): India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was grappling with a selection puzzle Monday after a match-winning performance by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in a World Cup warm-up game against Australia. Chawla, who returned to the one-day side during a recent series in South Africa after a three-year break, was a surprise inclusion in a World Cup squad already including spe-cialist spinners Harbhajan Singh and Rav-ichandran Ashwin. With part-time spin-ners Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Yusuf Pathan further bolstering the slow bowling department, Chawla's selection sparked a debate.

But the baby-faced bowler forced the Indian team management into a serious rethink on their playing eleven after pick-ing o� four wickets for 31 runs to fashion India's unlikely 38-run win in Bangalore on Sunday. "A leg-spinner can really trou-ble batsmen," Dhoni said after the match. "Chawla turns the odd one and has a very

good wrong'un. He is consistent with line and length. Also, it gives you more options in bowling.

"One of the reasons for his selection was our need to have a spinner who can bat a bit. If he could contribute 15-20 runs then it would be good for the side. "It's a bit of headache whom to play and whom not to play with the kind of talent we have in the team but it is good for the team." Chawla said his warm-up performance could work in his favour once the tourna-ment starts on Saturday with an India-Bangladesh match in Dhaka.

"We have a few good spinners in the squad," Chawla, 22, said. "If the pitch is slow and offers some turn, I will have a good chance to make it.

"When I came to bowl in the fi rst pow-erplay, the ball was turning a bit and all I needed to do was pitch the ball in the right areas." Chawla, who made his one-day de-but against Bangladesh in 2007, has picked 28 wickets from 22 ODIs.

Chawla poses selection headache for India cricket

Imagine Kevin Pietersen, Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle, Jacques Kallis and Sha-hid Afridi batting for the same team. Their captain could relax, but not the bowlers in the opposition. KP's improvisation, Sachin's strokeplay, Gayle's power-hitting, Kallis's conventional approach and Afridi's unorthodox shots will make bowlers believe they have strayed into wrong territory. (Text courtesy: AFP)

'Fab' fi ve promise batting feast

Indian cricket captain Mahendra

Singh Dhoni (AP Photo)

KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 14 (PTI): West Indian leg-end Vivian Richards feels that Indian cricket team has improved in the fi eld-ing department in recent times and that increases the chance of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men win-ning the World Cup. "India has improved in the fi eld-ing department recently. I see change in psyche among the Indian players.

Today the players are more committed on the fi eld. People like (coach)

Gary Kirsten should be given credit for that," Richards said while par-ticipating at a cricket pro-gramme "Power Play" here last night. "I think a good fielding unit will win this World Cup," said Richards, considered the most destructive bats-man of modern cricket. Richards praised Dho-ni for leading from the front. "If you are a leader, you have to perform. And Dhoni is leading the side from the front.

With fi elding improved, India are favourites: Viv

KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 14 (PTI): Captain of Indian World Cup winning team Kapil Dev tonight criticised the BCCI for Eden Gardens not being able to host World Cup matches involving In-dia. “It is also responsibility of BCCI to see that CAB com-pletes the renovation work of the stadium in time,” Dev said while participating in a cricket chat show here. “I am not supporting CAB presi-dent Jagmohan Dalmiya nor BCCI. Everybody should have come together to host a match at Eden,” he said.

Stating that adding “per-sonal agenda” should not have come in arranging such matches, he asked: “Why for Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, people of West Bengal will be deprived to see India in action at Eden Gardens in this World Cup?” A stadium in Mumbai, where no match has been played earlier, has been allotted a match this time, but the match sched-uled to be held in Kolkata, known for its love for cricket, has been taken away, Dev la-mented. “I also feel sorry for the people here,” he said at a

chat show in which three oth-er former captains of World Cup -- Vivian Richards, Steve Waugh, and Sourav Ganguly -- were present. Former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh said the Australians have a very good memory of Eden where they won the World Cup beating England in 1987. About pressure to be faced by the Indian team for playing before the home crowd, Dev said, “Pressure will be there. But you have to take it in your stride as you have the crowd and the pitch in your favour.”

On the dependence of the Indian team on Sachin Ten-dulkar, he said, “I don’t like to depend on one player. Crick-et is a team game.” Praising Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he said Dhoni was able keep his cool un-der pressure. Former West Indies great Richards said fielding would be going the deciding factor this time. He said Indian batting has been improved quite a lot under coach Gary Kirsten. Accord-ing to the present format, all the rated teams should reach the quarter fi nals, said Sourav Ganguly.

Kapil Dev lashes at BCCI for Eden fi asco CHENNAI, FEBRUARY

14 (AGENCY: PTI): New Zealand sought to put be-hind their dismal record of losing 14 of their last 17 ODIs coming into the World Cup, saying that they are still a strong side who can win the coveted trophy.

Key players Brandon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris and Martin Guptill admitted their side's dismal performance -bilat-eral ODI series whitewash-es in Bangladesh (0-4) and India (0-5) and 2-3 loss to Pakistan at home — but said they are ready for the World Cup challenge. They said New Zealand have done bet-ter under new coach John Wright who took over the reigns nearly two months ago and his experience in the subcontinental conditions will come handy for them.

"It doesn't get any big-ger than this, a World Cup in the sub-continent. The atmosphere will be elec-trifying. It's my favourite place to tour and I have per-formed well in these condi-tions. We have been strug-gling of late but have beaten all the teams before. And we believe we are up to the challenge of doing it again," all-rounder Scott Styris said at an open media ses-

We can win World Cup, says New Zealandsion in Chennai. "Wright's experience and expertise in India will be valuable for us," he said. "Wright talks a lot about India, and has a lot of friends, especially the groundsmen. He might tell some of them to prepare pitches that might suit us," Styris said in a lighter vein.

Top-order batsman Ross Taylor said the team had learnt a lot from their twin tours to Bangladesh and India recently and his side has the wherewithal to lay hands on the World Cup trophy. "We had some tough six months. But we have learnt a lot from it, and will try as hard as we can to win the World Cup. When you reach the quarterfi nals, it's just three matches away from winning the World Cup. Personally, the World Cup is big for me. Explo-sive batsman Brendon Mc-Cullum said his side's fi rst target is to reach the quar-terfi nals and from there on anything can happen. "We are very optimistic about our performance In the sub-continent this time. We are very realistic in our approach to qualify for the quarterfi nal and then look at winning the next three games. We have the talent to do that," he said.

New Zealand's Brendon McCullum dives to catch a ball during a practice session ahead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup in Chennai on February 14. (AP Photo)