CHENNAI – India must raise their World Cup intensity, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Tuesday, with star batsman Sachin Tendulkar poised to play a crucial role. India, strong favourites to win the showpiece tournament, stuttered in their warm-up game against defending champions Australia in Bangalore on Sunday before pulling off an unlikely 38-run win.
The Indians take on New Zealand in their second and final practice match on Wednesday in Chennai ahead of their tournament opener against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday. Tendulkar missed the win over Australia, a legacy of the hamstring injury that forced him to cut short his participation in the one-day series in South Africa last month. But he came through a long net session on Tuesday and is poised to open the batting against the Black Caps in what will be only his third one-dayer since his historic double-century against South Africa in Gwalior a year ago.
“Of course we did not have a very good game against Australia,” Dhoni said. “We needed a partnership but that did not happen and we could not score big. “The lower order helped and added some 45-odd runs. But at 214 we did not have a par score on the board. We want to score more runs in the warm-up and try various bowling options. “We need to pick up intensity as we progress into the World Cup.” Dhoni said the performance of spinners in the game against Australia had opened up his options.
