India's chances at the 2010 T20 World Cup

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The Indian team won the inaugural tournament but could not do well in the next version. How they will do this year seems to be seen. Whether they will be able to recover from their hectic IPL experience, will determine more than anything else.

The pitches will help the spinners and batsmen will feel more at home than in any other T20 World Cups so far.

Without playing any warm-up matches, the Indians are practicing the first few days in the islands. This might be a good tactic to go, after the IPL journey.

Openers

India are missing Sehwag here but never mind, Vijay comes into the squad thanks to his wonderful run in IPL3. Gambhir and Vijay are going to be key to provide starts to the Indian team.

Middle order

What can you say about a middle-order that has Suresh Raina (MoM of IPL3 finals), MS Dhoni among a host of other all-rounders. Dinesh Karthick will play if MSD has injury problems.

All-rounders

There are a number of batsmen who can be classified as all-rounders because of their ability to bowl spin - Yuvraj Singh (remember six sixes), Ravinder Jadeja (best Indian bowler in last T20 World Cup), Yusuf Pathan (the Baroda Marauder), Rohit Sharma (the best technical batsmen from the Gen-X). 3 of them will play and it might be mostly the first three.

Spinners

Harbhajan Singh will play a lead role in the team in the spinning department while Piyush Chawla will get a chance only if Bhajji gets injured. Because of his inconsistency, Bhajji is still considered as a spinner, not an all-rounder.

Fast bowlers

Zaheer Khan can be easily named as the most canny bowler in international cricket, if not the fastest. He will lead the pack with Ashish Nehra. The Kumars, Praveen and Vinay, will provide variety with their right-arm medium-pace - only one of them will play in the eleven. All the bowlers can pack a punch with their bat (which even if it is for a few balls, will matter in this version of the game).

Looking at the composition, the Indian team looks quite strong (on paper at least). Bowlers who can bat and batsmen who can bowl give the team a good look. Of course, if it goes to the Super Eights, that itself is a step up after the last year's performance.

Let us raise our hopes and hope that MSD brings back the T20 World Cup this year, to go with his IPL trophy. All the best, India.

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