‘Experience is Indian team’s strong point’

Melbourne, Jan 16: His team may have just four members from the 2011 World Cup-winning side but Indian head coach Duncan Fletcher Friday insisted the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-captained team has the experience of playing in big tournaments.

India excluded veterans Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan from their World Cup 2015 squad, relying on a fresh-looking squad to retain the title won at home in 2011.

"This is a very important point. We do want experience. Now, we have played three ICC tournaments in the last three years – the ICC World T20, 2012-13 and 2014, and the Champions Trophy 2013. And people will be surprised to see that we have only lost two games in all of which one was the final," Fletcher was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.

"That is quite a record to be proud of. And the team in all those tournaments was more or less the same. So, these boys do have the experience when it comes to the big tournaments and they do know how to win them," he said.

"What makes this team special is that over the last few years they have faced all kinds of situations in limited overs cricket and have shown they are capable of coming out successfully from all of them.

"That’s why I say that we have a good chance to win this World Cup."

The Zimbabwean opined that the ongoing tri-series against Australia and England not only offers his team the chance to try out different combinations but also settle down as a unit.

"In maintaining the balance between trying to win the tri-series – and there's no doubt that we want to win it because it will give us a huge momentum and confidence boost going into the World Cup – while also using it to try out some things that we might do in the World Cup, because by the time we get there, we want to be settled," he said.

"We have to be careful in doing that – trying to sort some stuff out, be it a technical issue or a selection issue or getting the players to be comfortable with their respective roles going into the World Cup."

Playing in Australia just prior to the mega event would give the reigning champions some much-needed time to acclimatise to the conditions.

"Playing the tri-series just before the World Cup is a great idea for us in getting used to how the white ball behaves here. What’s more is that we don’t play these two sides (Australia and England) in the group stage and this series will be a good chance to have a look at them for the advanced stages of the World Cup."