Harbhajan singh tells MiD DAY how India have turned the corner after their World Cup disaster in 2007
Harbhajan singh tells MiD DAY how India have turned the corner after their World Cup disaster in 2007
Harbhajan Singh believes that the Indian team would not be carrying any scars from the 2007 World Cup when they take on Bangladesh in the opening match of the cricket's showpiece event here today.
The 'Turbanator' feels that the ghosts of the Caribbean edition, when Rahul Dravid's men were knocked out in the first round following an upset by the neighbouring minnows, would hardly haunt the current squad as it's a vastly different one. "We are now a wholly different side. We have been playing very good cricket over the last two-three years," Harbhajan told MiD DAY.u00a0 "Ever since Gary Kirsten took over as coach (in 2008), we have been playing really well. We are now an improved lot. We are a very, very positive side.
"We have won some important series both at home and away. We are now really confident that we would do well." Four years ago, the Greg Chappell-coached Indian team had a disastrous campaign in the West Indies when they crashed to a five-wicket loss against Bangladesh in their opening group match at Trinidad.
Medium pacer Mashrafe Mortaza wreaked havoc grabbing four wickets while spinners Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Rafique chipped in with three wickets each as the Indians were bundled out for a paltry 191.
The Indians recovered from the shock to thrash a hapless Bermuda by 257 after posting 413 for five, but the campaign came to an early end when they went down by 69 runs to Sri Lanka.
Harbhajan, one of the many players in the side who fell out with the controversial Australian coach, said that things went wrong from the outset for the team. "That World Cup was a very frustrating one. From the beginning, our campaign was doomed. We didn't play good cricket against Bangladesh," he said. "Like this time, there were a lot of expectations then too. We didn't put enough runs on the board against Bangladesh ufffd 190 was just not enough on the Port Of Spain (Trinidad) wicket.
"Bangladesh's planning was very good. Their three left-arm spinners bowled very well against us. We needed one good partnership but we didn't get it. It was Bangladesh's first-ever victory against us in a major tournament. After the loss, we were mentally down. We played below average cricket and lost to Sri Lanka. Simply, we were not up to the mark."
