Ireland might be one of the low rung teams, but the Indians are a chastened lot. The last time they made the mistake of under-estimating the opposition, it cost them the World Cup
Ireland might be one of the low rung teams, but the Indians are a chastened lot. The last time they made the mistake of under-estimating the opposition, it cost them the World Cup. That experience, plus Ireland's knack for giant-killing acts, means skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni prefers to keep his cards close to chest when it came to revealing the playing XI on the eve of the match.
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"We have 'very fond' memories of getting beaten by Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup and we won't make that mistake again," Dhoni said after the team's practice session at the M Chinnaswamy stadium yesterday.
What lent substance to the theory was that the Indian captain ruled out playing one batsman less, nor did he favour playing three seamers instead of two spinners.
Dhoni declared that Ashish Nehra, who was sidelined against Bangladesh and England by a side strain, was fit. But it remains to be seen whether he gets the nod ahead of Piyush Chawla.
What could change though is Dhoni's choice if he wins the toss. "We have seen that in both the games batting under lights has been quite easy compared to the afternoon session where the ball stops a bit and the spinners get a little bit of turn. In the second half it gets quite a bit placid and comes on to the bat really well," he said.
India had set targets in both their games, although in the opener against Bangladesh, it was the latter that won the toss. Dhoni did not expect the character of the pitch to be too different from the one that saw teams post in excess of 300 and still end up not winning the game. "Usually we don't see seamer-friendly tracks in India. That's what we can expect for tomorrow's game also," he said.
"The wicket is quite damp right now and it is difficult to say whether it will turn or not. But the last couple of games here have been high scoring ones... probably it won't change much and it could still be a high-scoring game."
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