ICC World Cup: India's 'allround' show impresses Brian Lara

New Delhi West Indies batting legend Brian Lara is mighty impressed with Indias allround showing in their first two cricket World Cup matches and feels MahendraSingh Dhonis men need to keep up their good work in all three departments of the game if they intend to defend the titleBrian Lara PicSayed Sameer AbediIndia defeated archrivals Pakistan by 76 runs in their tournament opener before registering an emphatic 130win over tournament favourites South Africa in their second outing to be atop Group B at the moment And like others Lara too feels India in all likelihood will go as table toppers into the next round Most definitely India likely to top Group BIndia is playing great cricket The combination of their efforts on the field with the bat and the ball Somewhere down the line you find an Indian team suffering in one discipline of the game but right now their batting is great their bowlers are doing what is necessary to win the games and the Indian fielding over the last few years has also improved they are now on a different levelThey playing very good cricket under the leadership of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Their allround game is what is impressive and thats what they need to keep doing to win the World Cup Lara told NDTV Lara was of the view India hold a good stead in the ongoing World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealandas they now are better equipped to tackle the tough overseas conditionsHe also credited cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar who has played record six World Cups for showing the current lot of Indian cricketers how to fight and score runs on tough conditions In these conditions India many many years ago had problems But their cricketers have grown out of that and I believe thats simply because of what Sachin Tendulkar has done to Indian cricket in terms of showing the fight and strength needed to play on any surfaceThe players are now following in his footsteps The likes of Ajinkya Rahane Shikhar Dhawan Virat Kohli and skipper Dhoni all these guys are now accustomed to play in these tough conditions bouncy pitches and I expect the Indian team to continue the way they are playing at present Lara saidBeing a former captain himself Lara is also closely following West Indies performance in the World Cup and feels Chris Gayles return to form with a blistering double century against Zimbabwe in Canberra today augurs well for the Caribbean side ahead of tough clashes against South Africa and IndiaGayle bludgeoned his way into the history books by becoming the first player to score a double century in the cricket World Cup smashing 215 off just 147 balls with the help of a recordequalling 16 sixes and 10 fours to help West Indies beat Zimbabwe by 73 runs via DL method Asked whether West Indies opponents now should feelscared after Gayle knock today Lara said Very much soChris played very well I felt he was a bit conservative in his first 100 scored it in more than a runaball But he took off after that and was great to watch Marlon Samuels also played a very supportive role It is great for West Indies team at present Their morale must be high now after the victories against Pakistanand Zimbabwe They have two very tough games coming up against South Africa and India But Chris Gayle in form can always be a dangerThe destructive batsman was also involved in a record 372run secondwicket partnership with centurion Marlon Samuels 133 Marlon Samuels to me played a great role today Gayle and Samuels formed a great combination today Lara said Lara however feels West Indian selectors made a big mistake by leaving out the duo of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the World Cup squadIt was a huge mistake Those two gentlemen bring a lot to the team Their performance might not be amazing all the time but I do believe that Dwayne Bravo really do have a very good record for West Indies Pollard now is one of the big players in world cricket and he brings something else to the team The confidence he gives to his teammates and his camaraderie in the dressing room are very important part he saidThose two boys are very important to the psyche of the team But lets hope that we dont feel the mistake we did We cant change things now But it was a step in the wrong direction for West Indies cricket