Tuesday, March 6, 2007

India to warm-up against Dutch in Jamaica

A confident India will warm-up against cricket minnows the Netherlands at Trelawny stadium in Montego Bay on Tuesday, seeking to acclimatise to the Caribbean conditions before launching their quest of regaining the World Cup after nearly a quarter of a century.

The Rahul Dravid-led team, which is regarded as a front-runner for the title by a few former cricketers, will use the opportunity to fine-tune their skills for the mega event. The Indians will play another practice game against the West Indies on Friday before the tournament gets underway on March 13.

The Indians will open their campaingn with a match against Bangladesh in Queen`s Park Oval in Trinidad on March 17.

The Indian team will go into the tournament high on confidence after their recent home series wins against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Dravid said his team was well-prepared for the tournament.

"We have a pretty good team and we are very confident," he said.

The captain also said he was hopeful that the tournament would unfold positively for the team which had finished runners-up in the previous 2003 edition.

"I know that all the other teams will be aiming to play their best cricket but we are very confident that this is going to be a very good tournament for us," Dravid added. India, one of the only five countries to have won the title, have been placed with former champions Sri Lanka, minnows Bangladesh and Bermuda, the ICC associate member, in Group B.

In the other warm-up matches tomorrow, Pakistan will meet Canada in Trinidad and defending champions Australia will play Zimbabwe in St Vincent. New Zealand will take on Bangladesh in Barbados.

Bureau Report

Source : http://www.zeenews.com

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