India, as happens to them at any tournament they play in, enters the ICC World Twenty20 under the burden of massive public expectation.

    India did not enjoy the best of outings at the World Twenty20 in England last year where they failed to reach the semi-finals.

    However, this year they have the look of a team that could well end up challenging for the title.

    Wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has proved to be an inspired choice as captain.

    Under his leadership India has assumed the mantle as the number one Test side in the world, a feat only Australia and South Africa had previously attained.

    Being India’s captain has not ruined Dhoni’s ability to make runs and the right-hander is currently the number one ranked one-day international (ODI) batsman in the world.

    Sachin Tendulkar will not be at the World Twenty20 as the master batsman has ruled himself out of international T20 cricket in order to prolong his ODI and Test careers.

    It would be churlish to suggest that India will not miss someone of Tendulkar’s class but his absence will be off-set somewhat by some of world cricket’s most impressive players.

    Virender Sehwag is a batsman who has the ability to savage bowling attacks. His opening partnership with Gautam Gambhir has proved to be a fruitful one for India with both men enjoying an international T20 strike-rate of over 125.

    They will be backed up by a talented trio of youngsters in Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma.

    All three men have shown in the Indian Premier League that they are capable of putting together destructive knocks.

    Yuvraj Singh is the senior statesmen in the middle-order and his big-hitting exploits have garnered him plenty of attention, especially when he struck six consecutive sixes off England bowler Stuart Broad during the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007.

    India were the eventual champions that year but for them to reclaim their crown their bowling attack will have to prove as effective as their batting.

    Left-arm swing bowler Zaheer Khan will lead the attack and the 31-year-old is a master of his craft with the ability to swing the ball both ways as well as extract movement off the pitch.

   However, there is not much in the way of back-up for Khan in the fast bowling department with only fellow left-armer Ashish Nehra having much experience at international level.

    Praveen Kumar and Ranganath Vinay Kumar are the back-up seamers but Vinay has yet to represent his country while Praveen has only played in one T20 international.

    India’s bowling strength will lie in their spin attack of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who has developed into a more than useful lower-order batsman, and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

    India should have no problem advancing from their group, which includes South Africa and Afghanistan.

    If they do not wilt under the weight of expectations, they could well be the first country to win two World Twenty20 titles.