The forthcoming World Cup provides a a great challenge and opportunity
for his team members as it was the pinnacle of one day cricket in the world
and is a quadrennial event, India skipper Rahul Dravid said here today.
"It's an exciting opportunity and a great challenge for
us as it's the pinnacle of one-day cricket in the world. We will try and give
our very best which comes once in four years. Everyone in the team is excited",
Dravid said at a function to launch the Indian team's new light blue clothing.
Dravid said it was a relief in some ways that the mega event was close at hand
after the reams of newsprint and bytes that have been unleashed by the media
in the build-up.
"In some ways it's a relief that the World Cup has finally
arrived after the amount of discussions that have taken place on television
and in the newspapers over the last several months which is understandable in
a World Cup year. We are finally going out and performing on the field,"
he said.
Dravid said captaining the team had been an exciting experience
for him over the last 16 to 18 months and added: "I'm sure Sachin (Tendulkar)
and Sourav (Ganguly) will agree (with his views)." The two former captains
were present with Dravid at the unveiling of the new team clothing along with
Mahendra Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth and Dinesh Kartik.
The Cricket Board's apparel sponsors Nike claimed that the new apparel that
the team would be wearing at the mega event in the West Indies was 15 per cent
lighter than the earlier one and was also capable of keeping the body temperature
down to comfortable levels.
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