By Gaurang
March 6 2007

Two one-day series wins at home, against middling opposition, has the Nation in a confident state of mind, going into the tournament with cricket’s biggest prize at stake. Realistically can India win it? With Australia knocked off its Pedestal, and South Africa nominally the number one One-day team in the world, the 2007 World Cup is wide open in terms of which team can win the Trophy.

India too have a chance, just like the other seven major Test nations, but the knowledgeable fan of Indian cricket will ask: What is different now compared to when the team crashed out in the first round of the Champions Trophy last October? On paper the squad is virtually the same as the one that was far from competitive in the last major multi-team tournament.

The only difference from the team that won one solitary match and was humiliated at home, last October, and the current team is the return of Zaheer Khan and Sourav Ganguly to the starting eleven.

The same Zaheer and Sourav who were uncermoniously dropped from the team, and whose return was blocked for far longer than necessary by the team management are now key starters for the team. While the management that even after the debacle in the Champions Trophy, was adamant that going back to these two was not an option, and suggested that more experimentation was the way forward, is now in the position of having to depend on these stalwarts, for the team's success.

Still the question remains, can the addition of just two players change the balance and dynamic of a team to such an extent that it goes from being barely competitive at home, less than six months ago, to being strong contenders overseas?

The answer to that question, will determine if Indian cricket fans will be cheering their team on or watching the tournament as outsiders come April.