Paarl: India go into its World Cup opener against minnows Netherlands on Wednesday confident that Sachin Tendulkar and psychologist Sandy Gordon have helped it get over pre-tournament jitters.
"It was decided before we came to South Africa that Gordon will help the boys," team official Amrit Mathur told. "Today's session was very useful." Sehwag will continue to open with Ganguly, but Tendulkar will now bat at number three, leaving Rahul Dravid and four and young guns Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif to follow. "We have spoken a lot about the batting order and have decided to have Sachin at three," Ganguly said. "We may not have played too well in the recent past, but we had a very good year otherwise and I am confident we will be back to our best in the World Cup." The Dutch, who qualified by winning the ICC trophy for non-Test playing nations, is unlikely to provide the Indians any serious opposition, but any victory at this point will be a welcome change. If England grants free points to Zimbabwe by not playing in Harare, the race for the Super Six will get even tougher. But Ganguly was not unduly worried. "We can't be too worried of what is happening elsewhere," he said. "Our aim is to try and win all the games we play."
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