Will it be another Indian swan song at CWC?

After every game, we lament that we are not the best fielding side in the world. We mention that we gave the opposition areas to score and they capitalised on it. We know that playing seven batsmen with Bhajji and Ashwin (whom Sunil Gavaskar mentioned repeatedly as a former opener) to follow, makes us the best batting side in the world; except that we are yet to come terms with power plays( lost 7 wickets for 51 runs and you termed it as a improvement over the last match!).Why do we keep on repeating our deficiencies but never act on it!!
The comparisons are obvious but I agree it is best avoided!! The 1983 world cup side had bowling all rounders, who were excellent fielders at any position...Kapil Dev, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Ravi Shahstri had the ability to contain the batsmen with their bowling and fielding......one day cricket, at the end of the day is about containment not contentment!!

Let us hope we manage to replicate Pakistan's victory over Aussies..

ICC World Cup: Better to be underdogs!!

The expectations are set in accordance to your seeding in the tournament...an underdog or dark horse status helps!! it helps the team stay focussed on the job at hand, get the basics right and not create harakiri. Our Indian cricket team will be able to relate to it better than others...after all, they won the Prudential cup when they were rank outsiders and no one including the team itself gave it a chance. The current team billed as the favourites, may have qualified for the knock out, but have exposed their brittle bowling attack and sloppy fielding in all their matches. 
Please note that we have had a last ball tie with England, lost to South Africa , allowed B'desh to score more than 250, and had hiccups chasing N'lands. The bowling always looks up to Zaheer for initial breakthrough and Bhajji to strike in the middle order...the rest are just going through their motions!! Winning a world cup does not mean that you score approx 300 in each game...it needs a allround effort in bowling and fielding too!! batting power play gives one the opportunity to find the gaps or go over the top...not blast 4's and 6's. The passion may be there bu the roles and responsibilities of individuals and the team seems to be vaguely defined..sometimes a standard approach may be better than a unconventional one!!