Weather, wickets, wickeds and World Cup in 2007

By John Cheeran
Once in every four years, the Class of 1983 gets the opportunity to hold forth on how they did it at Lords.
As the leader of the Class of 1983, Kapil Dev is the most qualified to comment on India’s chances in the 2007 World Cup.
And Kapil, who does not write columns but often shares his opinion with television channels and news agencies, has said that on current form India is not a strong contender for the World Cup.
Kapil has pointed out that the team should be instilled with confidence. World Cup winning skipper says that efforts should be there to boost the players’ confidence.
And how do you do that?
You cannot inject confidence. Confidence is what you feel and think about. Players, and team management, should hold a dialogue so that the cobwebs of performance anxieties are cleared but stern reminders of responsibilities are put forth.
In cricket, players are defined by their playing fields. Only a few, touched by greatness, can conquer playing fields. Others beat their momentary opponents.
It is a pity that a mortal like me should point it out to the legendary Kapil Dev. Weather changes, wickets change, and heroes become zeroes and zeroes turn into heroes.
This applies to World Cup too. World Cup is to be held in the West Indies and the South African virus is unlikely to catch the Indian players there. World Cup will be a test of skills, but it will be conducted in a different lab with different catalysts employed.
Bottom line is this. Except for the composition of the team, a few tweaks here and there, South African one-day disaster (at this moment) will not have an impact on India’s World Cup campaign.
Meanwhile let Kapil Dev and his illustrious XI ring the alarm bells.