India confident ahead of Asia Cup

Prior to heading to Pakistan for the Asia Cup which commences on June 24, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten seemed confident of their team’s chances in the six-nation tournament.

The Indian team is without their batting stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. While Tendulkar has been rested because of a persistent groin injury, Ganguly and Dravid have made way for new blood in the Indian outfit which consists of youngsters such as Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina among others.

Addressing a press conference before departing to Pakistan, Kirsten seemed confident of his youngsters saying, “We have a group of players, specifically the batsmen, who are extremely talented. We are certainly backing them to be able to do some special stuff for the team.”

He went on to add, “We have set ourselves some goals for the next few months. We have set some very high standards and the Asia Cup is very much a part of that. Our goal is to win the tournament.”

The Indian skipper seemed to second his coach’s viewpoint saying, “If we play to our potential, if we play to our capabilities, on an average day we will win more matches than we will lose.”

Dhoni, always a composed candidate, said that the defeat to Pakistan at the finals of the recently concluded Kitply Cup in Bangladesh would mean nothing when they face their arch-rivals who are in the same pool as them on June 26.

He was quoted as saying, “We have played well in Pakistan if you see the past 3-4 tours but that is the past and what you have done in the past does not matter. You have to start fresh from the scratch because conditions are different, scenarios are different and so you have to start afresh.”

The Asia Cup which begins on June 24 will comprise of six participating nations: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

Bangladesh will take on the United Arab Emirates in the tournament opener at the Gadaffi Stadium at Lahore on June 24.