Dhoni's T20 champs won't be affected by cricketing stress: Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar believes MS Dhoni's team won't get bogged down by cricketing stress as the defending champions leave today for next month's World T20

Sanjay Manjrekar believes MS Dhoni's team won't get bogged down by cricketing stress as the defending champions leave today for next month's World T20

When the Indian team, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the first time, arrived in South Africa to participate in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, there was hardly any pressure on the bunch.

MS Dhoni hooks during India's recent limited overs series in New Zealand. PIC/AFP

The fans, administrators, even many of the players had not taken the latest format of the game seriously.

However, the situation has changed drastically now. The overwhelming success in World T20 was followed by the IPL storm.

Now, T20 cricket has emerged as the most followed format of the game in India. Naturally, the big question is whether MS Dhoni and Co can handle the enormous pressure "MSD knows no other way of playing. Indian cricket is such that there are always massive expectations. And because our team won the title, the expectations are even more," said former Test star Sanjay Manjrekar, who will follow next month's World T20 from the commentator's box.

Balance
"I don't think that this team has a weakness of falling apart under pressure or being chokers in big-match situations. There will be pressure, there will be expectations but I don't think this team will be greatly affected by it.

"I can't call it a plea, but all the followers of the game should understand that it would be unfair to expect India to defend their title because there's so much fate or luck involved in this format. It's such a short and high-risk game that everybody takes their chances. India is the best team, in fact it is a better team than it was the last time around. And it's nice for us to hope that India should win.

"But in T20, we have to tone down our expectation in comparison with those for Tests and ODIs."u00a0 Manjrekar rated the squad for the coming World Twenty20 as better than the World champion bunch. "I feel this team is certainly better than the one in 2007," Manjrekar said.

u00a0"Suresh Raina has grown, Pragyan Ojha comes in to bowl and wants to make a difference, that's why I like him. He wants to come and change the situation by taking wickets. So that attitude is great. Gambhir may be the one guy who is slightly low, but all the others are brimming with confidence."

Manjrekar, one of the most technically sound batsmen produced by India, however, refrained from picking the top four sides of the tournament.

"You apply cricketing logic and logic tells me: "Anybody can". If you leave the two or three minnows out, all the other major Test playing nations have a great chance of making it to the semis."

"If it was the World Cup in 50-over format, I could pick my favourites. My feeling is being the best team in the world doesn't mean you have a great chance of winning the title. India are the best team at the moment. And I am waiting to watch what the World T20 tells us about this format of the game," said Manjrekar.

Ever since emerging as the second highest run-getter in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa 2007, Gautam Gambhir hadn't looked back until he again arrived in the Rainbow Nation for the second edition of the Indian Premier League.

However, after a not-so-good (or disastrous?) outing in the IPL, as the Indian team leaves for England today to defend their tag of World Champions, Gambhir remains the only concern based on form.

While some believe that Gambhir has come a full a circle and his purple patch ironically ended in the same country where it started, Manjrekar certainly doesn't think so.

"I will not read too much into non-performance in T20s as the dream patch coming to an end. There's too much of the element of chance in T20.

"If you have a slightly longer bad run in other formats, you can say that the purple patch has come to an end. But that's not the case in T20," Manjrekar said.

Skeptics may also point fingers at Virender Sehwag's form.

"In the last innings that Viru played in the IPL he got 30-odd and got out, but he was playing like a dream. He is that kind of a player that you don't need to worry about his form. He'll come in and play a dream innings and win you the game before you know it," said Manjrekar.

Besides Gambhir and Sehwag's batting form, the only other concern for the Indian team ahead of the tournament is Zaheer Khan's fitness. Manjrekar hoped that Zaheer will be fully fit for the entire duration of the tournament.

"I have no idea about the extent of his injury.u00a0 From the reports that I am reading I can say that he has a shoulder problem.

"And he is not yet ruled out, right? With injuries I don't think there's enough transparency. You don't get to know what's exactly happening. But let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that he is fit for the tournament because his presence in the team is very important," hoped Manjrekar.