By Fakir Hassen
Johannesburg, Sep 13 (IANS) India could ensure that Scotland becomes the first team in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championships to head home Thursday night.
Despite the defeat of title favourites Australia at the hands of Zimbabwe, the chances of the Scots springing a surprise on India when they meet at the Sahara Kingsmead Stadium in Durban Thursday evening appear slim.
Having already lost to Pakistan Tuesday, Scotland would be out of the tournament if they lost to India.
India, who only arrived in Durban at the weekend after the final match at Lord’s, have not played any warm-up games and will probably use the Scotland clash to prepare for the much anticipated match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the same venue Friday.
Although stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have opted to stay home, India still has young and exciting players in captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir who can smash the ball around, a hallmark of the games so far.
Virender Sehwag, who missed selection to the England tour, confirmed that these players joined him to make up a formidable batting list, adding that expectations in India were high despite the team having played only one Twenty20 game so far.
“People in India love cricket, irrespective of the format. They will always go crazy over our performances, whether it is Test, one-day or Twenty20 games,” the swashbuckling opener told the Afrikaans daily Beeld here.
“Personally, I feel very good and fitter than before. I want to grab this opportunity that the selectors have given me.”
Sehwag conceded that Australia are still the favourites after their performance in the last three World Cups.