Dravid-led squad to leave for West Indies with high hopes

Mumbai, Feb 28 (UNI) Barely a few hours and, the Indian cricket team will fly to the West Indies for the World Cup, carrying with them the hopes and aspirations of a billion people of the country, for whom nothing less than winning the World Cup will suffice.

Since winning its first World Cup in 1983, India has gone without success for 24 long years even though they came perilously close in the last edition with Sourav Ganguly's team reaching the final.

Twenty-four years ago, a team that was hardly expected to cause a ripple in cricket's showpiece event, turned the game upside down with its sterling show.

Unlike the 1983 team which did not have the added burden of expectancy with even its most ardent fan not believing that the team could win the cup, Rahul Dravid's boys will be going to the West Indies with the added pressure of the numerous fans who believe that this team has it in them to lift cricket's most prized catch.

Anything less than a title triumph will be considered a failure, perhaps unfairly, by the vast majority of the fanatic followers of the game in the country.

Four years ago the Indian cricketers, many of whom are part of the present squad, had a bitter experience of what a poor run could lead to in the form of a violent backlash from fans back home.

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