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History is very important to cricketers. There have been nine World Cups and those champion teams do not lie about the composition and skills required to win.

Tell Dhoni hes dreaming

History is very important to cricketers. There have been nine World Cups and those champion teams do not lie about the composition and skills required to win. The three main denominators consistent with all champion teams are: your top four batsmen and bowlers must be of a high quality and if you can8217;t field,don8217;t bother turning up! All this taken into account,I do not believe India will win the World Cup with its current form. Tendulkar and Sehwag can rip any attack to shreds,no doubt. But that alone doesn8217;t win the World Cup. Now does the Indian bowling line-up of Khan,Nehra,Chawla and Harbhajan look as good as any of the World Cup winning champions line-ups? Simply,no! Dhoni wants seven specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers. Having seven batsmen tells me that India doesn8217;t trust its 8221;engine room8221; to make the runs required. By having four bowlers,it means that everything must go right or they are in deep trouble. What happens if one is injured? Or one gets smashed? India has struggled to bowl out Bangladesh and England. Ireland troubled them,but Dhoni won8217;t budge. Let8217;s hope India does OK because it will be a nightmare for all concerned if it got bundled out in the first quarter-final.

DEAN JONES,THE AGE

Johnston still unfit
CHITTAGONG: Ireland8217;s in-form pacer Trent Johnston8217;s fitness continues to remain a concern as they gear up for the Group B match against South Africa on Tuesday. During their their loss to India in Bangalore,he took two wickets in five overs before a knee injury forced him off the field. Though he did come to the nets on Sunday,he refrained from bowling. 8220;We will assess his fitness tomorrow morning. He did not bowl today and had some regular exercises and cardio sessions,8221; Ireland team manager Barry Chambers said.

Pace friendly Eden pitch
Kolkata: The Eden Gardens curator,Prabir Mukherjee has said that the pitch will offer pace and bounce,reports Shamik Chakrabarty. It will help both spinners as well as pacers. But there will not be any lateral movement,so batsmen will benefit too if they are careful with their shot selection, Mukherjee said.

The curator believes that the wicket will play well right through the match. This will be the best wicket in this tournament. Both teams will be happy to play on this wicket, Mukherjee proclaimed.

Tuesday8217;s match between Ireland and South Africa will be the first World Cup game at the Eden Gardens after delay in preparations had forced the organisers,shift the India-England game to Bangalore.