Sunil Gavaskar feels the current Indian team appears better prepared than their
1983 World Cup winning team for the cricket's most coveted Trophy. 
"This team is much better prepared than ours in 1983 because
of the sheer volume of one-day cricket that it has played and against almost
all the opponents. I am not saying this is a better team, please do not misquote
me," Gavaskar said after giving his best wishes to Rahul Dravid
and Co. through a written message on a giant cricket bat here.
Gavaskar wrote "Best wishes. God Bless!" and autographed an 18-foot
'Ceat Cricket Ratings Billon Man Bat'.
He also said the World Cup belonged to India because of the sheer passion generated
by the game in the country.
"No other country shows so much passion. This Cup belongs to India. I
wish Rahul and his team regain the Cup. The team has flexibility in the opening
combinations with five, including Dravid himself, can do the job.
"And, like in 1983 when we had Madan Lal, Roger Binny
and Jimmy (Mohinder) Amarnath, this team too have Sachin Tendulkar, Virender
Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh (all leading batsmen) who can bowl,"
he said.
The former India captain also said that defending champions Australia no longer
had the aura of invincibility following five successive losses to England and
New Zealand in the run-up to the Cup and drew a parallel with his own team of
the 1980s.
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