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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>I am looking forward to having a good World Cup: Tendulkar 04th Mar 2007 22.30 IST By Agencies Sachin Tendulkar might have to cope with a new role in batting and the extra responsibility of being the vice-captain, but India's premier batsman today said he felt no pressure and was keen to contribute with both bat and ball at the World Cup. "I am looking forward to having a good World Cup. I am hoping that both my batting and bowling will come good. I am not under any pressure. I feel quite confident," Tendulkar said at the Indian team's first press conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay after arriving in the Caribbean for the mega event.
Though not predicting an Indian win, he said he was expecting the team to do very well. Tendulkar, whose 673 runs in South Africa in 2003 is the highest aggregate in a single World Cup, warned that Australia were still a very dangerous team inspite of their five straight losses before coming to the Caribbean. ''You cannot write off the Australians, they are a team that knows how to bounce back when they are under pressure. ''Any top eight team can win the Cup,'' said the 33-year-old who is in his fifth World Cup appearance. Despite the iconic status of Tendulkar, coach Greg Chappell said the team would rely less on a player's star value than the basics to win the quadrennial event. "We will not be relying on any special players because the team is fairly well balanced," the 58-year-old former Australian captain said. Captain Rahul Dravid said he was confident of a strong show by his team in the 51-match tournament which will have its final on April 28. "I know that all the other teams will be aiming to play their best cricket but we are very confident that this is going to be a very good tournament for us," he said. The opening ceremony of the event is slated for March 11. India, placed in Group B, are scheduled to play their opening match on March 17 against Bangladesh at Port of Spain, Trinidad. Sri Lanka and Bermuda are the two teams in the Group. They begin their campaign with two warm-up matches on March 6 against the Netherlands and on March 9 against the West Indies. India's World Cup win came in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. In the last edition in 2003, they reached the final before losing to Australia. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: India Team Page: West Indies | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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