Indian Skipper confident of defending Championship

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is confident his team can retain the ICC World Twenty20 in England next month.

"I've got a team with outstanding talent. If we play to our potential, we can defend our title," Dhoni told reporters in the western Indian city of Mumbai, ahead of the team's departure for England on Friday.

"We're going to give it our best shot. Each player wants to do something special," said Dhoni, under whose captaincy India won the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007.

The second edition of the biennial T20 World championship will be played June 5-21 at three venues in England.

"Being defending champions doesn't put any additional pressure on us," said Dhoni, whose team is accustomed to the high expectations of a cricket-obsessed nation. "It's just an add-on pressure that we can handle."

"One cannot keep thinking about the outcome of matches, we can only focus on our preparation."

In 2007, Dhoni won the title with a second-string Indian squad, as the selectors had rested most of its top-players after a tour of England and ahead of home series against Australia. This time the squad is much more experienced after a string of successes against top teams in the past one year.

The 2007 victory boosted the popularity of Twenty20 cricket, leading to the subsequent launch of the lucrative Indian Premier League that has attracted top players from across the world.

"The IPL has really helped young players get accustomed to pressure situations, and international cricket is all about handling pressure.”

“We have Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh who have taken hat-tricks in the IPL. We also have Suresh Raina. Yusuf Pathan is there too," said the Indian skipper, who acknowledged the IPL for harnessing some of India’s talented cricketers.

He also seemed optimistic about the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja in the squad saying, “We have someone like Ravindra Jadeja with limited international experience but with high talent. He has played against some top fast bowlers and spinners in the IPL and has learned to handle pressure."

Dhoni seemed pretty calm and relaxed prior to the team’s departure to defend its trophy. His only concern was “that players don't get injured."

The Indian openers scripted India’s historic win at the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 but Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir haven’t been in their usual swashbuckling nick in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League.

Sehwag, who was the skipper of the Delhi Daredevils scored 198 runs from 11 games at an average of 19.8 and his deputy Gambhir, who was India’s highest scorer in the ICC World Twenty20 2007 edition, scored 286 runs from 15 games at an average of 22.

Dhoni also hinted at using spinners to open with the new ball, a tactic which has occasional worked wonders in the shortest format of the game.

“You have seen spinners too opening the bowling in the IPL. Teams have to take gambles."

India is placed in a relatively easy pool which comprises of Ireland and Bangladesh but Dhoni was quick to dismiss complacency saying that momentum will be crucial, reminiscing India’s loss to Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup which led to its subsequent exit from the 50-over tournament.

India’s first game of the ICC World Twenty20 2009 is against Bangladesh.