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India will go into the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup fresh and confident in spite of a mixed tour of England, Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Monday.

The Indians arrived here from London earlier in the day; just two days after losing the one-day decider against England at Lord’s which gave the hosts a 4-3 win. Dhoni, appointed skipper after regular Captain Rahul Dravid and senior pros Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opted out of the tournament, said the three-month tour of England will be quickly forgotten.

“I don’t think fatigue will have any impact on the team,” the swashbuckling batsman-wicketkeeper told reporters here. “The England tour was very tiring and exhausting but this is a World Cup and that brings excitement, freshness and confidence to the team,” he added.

Dhoni said he was under no pressure to captain the cricket-mad nation, even if only for the Twenty20 tournament.

“I never even dreamt of playing for my country, so to captain India is a massive bonus,” he said. “But I am not under any pressure because it is the team that must implement my decisions. I only make the decisions and whether they are successful or not depends on the response of the whole playing eleven.

I know it is a very big challenge to be captain but success is not just about the captain. Good captains are made by good teams,” he said. Five players who were not part of the touring team in England have joined the team here. They are Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yousuf Pathan and Virender Sehwag. India take on Scotland in Durban in their first match on Thursday. They play arch-rivals Pakistan on Friday at the same venue.

Source:Cricket News

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