CHENNAI, India, Aug 28 - India will recover
quickly from their early exit at the Twenty20 World Cup and are
certain to mount a serious challenge at the Champions Trophy in
South Africa next month, coach Gary Kirsten said.
India have recalled Rahul Dravid to the one-day team for
the first time in almost two years to bolster their batting on
pacy South African pitches at the Sept. 22-Oct. 5 Champions
Trophy.
A young Indian batting unit struggled against short-pitched
bowling in the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June.
"We have had a good run right from the tour of Australia
and there is great team spirit, though the World Twenty20 was a
setback," the former South Africa opener told reporters after
the national team's training camp in Bangalore on Thursday.
"We are very positive and all of us want to move on,"
Kirsten said.
India, who will also participate in a tri-series in Sri
Lanka that featuring New Zealand from Sept. 8-14, have not lost
a one-day series in the past year following a surprise
tri-series victory in Australia last February.
"We take pride in our consistency over a long period. It is
a quality team and the players are mentally fresh and look good
physically too," Kirsten said.
"It is good to have Rahul Dravid back in the team. He adds
massive value to the team," Kirsten said of the former captain,
who is only the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to score
over 10,000 runs in both test and one-day forms.
Tendulkar has also returned after opting out of the one-day
series in the West Indies, which the tourists won 2-1 last
month, but explosive opener Virender Sehwag will miss both
tournaments after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Ishant Sharma will spearhead the five-man pace attack in
the absence of experienced left-armer Zaheer Khan, who has been
ruled out of action until the end of the year after undergoing
surgery on an injured shoulder.
(Reporting by Sanjay Rajan; Editing by Peter Rutherford. To
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sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)