Sachin Tendulkar warned on Sunday that Australia should not be written off as a spent force despite the defending champions arriving at the World Cup dogged by injuries and poor form.
Tendulkar, who will probably be playing his last World Cup, believes Ricky Ponting's team will use the rare criticism they have received as ammunition to fire back at their doubters.
"You cannot write off the Australians, they are too good a team," said 33-year-old Tendulkar whose 673 runs at the last World Cup in South Africa helped India to the final where they were beaten by Ponting's men. "Australia are a team who know how to bounce back when they are under pressure." Australia are chasing a third successive World Cup title but they have lost their last five one-day internationals, costing them back-to-back series against England and New Zealand.
They are also without pace spearhead Brett Lee who was ruled out of the tournament through injury while Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden are both struggling for fitness. South Africa then added insult to injury by deposing them as the world's top one-day team.
Tendulkar, the highest run maker in the history of one-dayers with 14,783 runs to his name in a 381-match career, missed India's last tour of the Caribbean but believes that he can have a good tournament as his country seek to win a second World Cup to add to their 1983 title.
"I am looking forward to having a good World Cup. I am hoping that both my batting and bowling will come good," he said. "I am not under any pressure at this time I feel quite confident and I am ready to go." Skipper Rahul Dravid, buoyed by seeing his team beat Sri Lanka in a recent home series, believes India have one of the best-balanced sides at the tournament. "We have a pretty good team and we are very confident," said Dravid.
"I know that all the other teams will be aiming to play their best cricket but we are very confident that this is going to be a very good tournament for us." Coach Greg Chappell is also confident the squad's all-round strength will shine through.
"We will not be relying on any special players because the team is fairly well balanced," Chappell, a former Australia captain, told reporters. India play two warm-up matches here against the Netherlands and West Indies on March 6 and 9 respectively before heading to Trinidad for their first round schedule where they face Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bermuda.
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