T20 World Cup: India vs Afghanistan: May 1

RC Editor

It is supposed to be a walk in the park for team India when they open their campaign against first timers Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup here in West Indies today. But as we experienced in the recently concluded IPL 2010, in T20 there are no clear favourites – the team which plays better on the day wins the match.

T20 has clearly emerged as the game for the underdogs – those who can pull in their resources during the three and half hours of cricket and treat every delivery of the 240-ball span of the game as potential turning points of the match. Chennai Super Kings perhaps treated the final against clear favourites Mumbai Indians in the IPL in a similar way. The never-say-die attitude of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys paid off as CSK romped home with the IPL in style.

T20 World Cup: India vs Afghanistan: May 1

RC Editor

It is supposed to be a walk in the park for team India when they open their campaign against first timers Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup here in West Indies today. But as we experienced in the recently concluded IPL 2010, in T20 there are no clear favourites – the team which plays better on the day wins the match.

T20 has clearly emerged as the game for the underdogs – those who can pull in their resources during the three and half hours of cricket and treat every delivery of the 240-ball span of the game as potential turning points of the match. Chennai Super Kings perhaps treated the final against clear favourites Mumbai Indians in the IPL in a similar way. The never-say-die attitude of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys paid off as CSK romped home with the IPL in style.

Can Dhoni pull off a similar attitude in the T20 World Cup this time, after having missed the opportunity last year? Can Dhoni inspire the “Men in Blues” with the same spirit he had inspired the “Men in Yellow” a week back?

The answer to this will be evident in the way Team India plays today against minnows Afghanistan. A mere win may well be enough to be on the right side in the table, but it requires a demolition by a full strength Indian team to display the attitude they would be wearing in the World Cup – a desire to win the Cup.

Team Royal Challengers, after being shunted out of the IPL in the semi-finals, displayed their desire to win against Deccan Chargers in the 3rd place play-off and qualified for the T20 Champions Trophy. Three of team RC – Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli and Vinay Kumar – are in the West Indies to share that desire, to wear the attitude of winning the Cup up their Blue sleeves.

We will be following them closely. We will wait eagerly to bring the World Cup back to India.