“Anything can happen in T20 cricket,” Dhoni said ahead of the team’s departure for the Caribbean where the 12-nation tournament starts on April 30.

“The format of the game is such that you just can’t afford to relax. There will be no easy matches. Anyone can win it.”

India won the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, but failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the second edition in England last year when Pakistan took the title.

Dhoni said fatigue would not be a factor for his team, despite enduring the rigours of the six-week Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament which ended on Sunday.

“We have to respect the schedule,” said the Indian skipper, who led Chennai Super Kings to this year’s IPL title.

“Playing for the country is more important that playing in the IPL and that is enough to energise the boys. The good thing is that everyone is fit and looking forward to the tournament.

“We have a good chance to win the title because there is a lot of talent in the team. But we have to play to our potential. Let’s just hope for the best.”

India will be handicapped by the absence of hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag, who suffered a shoulder injury during the IPL and was replaced by Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay.

With record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar not part of the T20 side since 2007, the onus will be on Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni to bolster the batting.

India, drawn in group C, meet first-timers Afghanistan in St Lucia on May 1, before clashing with South Africa at the same venue the next day.

Two teams from the group will advance to the Super Eights round.

The final will be played in Barbados on May 16.

India’s T20 squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir (vice-capt), Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Vinay Kumar.

Coach: Gary Kirsten (RSA)

The former champions are already without hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag due to a shoulder injury, but wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni is second to none when it comes to striking the ball hard and clean.

The 28-year-old captain is known for holding his nerve under pressure and winning matches from hopeless situations with his power-hitting.

Leading Chennai Super Kings in a must-win Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Kings XI Punjab in Dharamshala recently, Dhoni proved why he was considered one of the best finishers in the game.

Chennai needed 52 to win off the last four overs before the captain guided his team to the semi-finals with an explosive 29-ball 54 not out, which included two sixes and five fours.

“It came right down to the wire, and hats off to the skipper for pulling it off,” Chennai coach and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming wrote in his newspaper column after the match.

“It was an emotional moment for him too, and he is usually such a calm character. Dhoni has had a quiet tournament and it was nice to see him get his confidence back.

“This was the last innings for him to deliver and he came good. I am delighted for him and the team.”

The burden of captaincy has not affected his batting, for he has led his team remarkably well in all formats of the game.

India gained the number-one Test ranking in December last year under Dhoni, who has scored 356 runs in 20 Twenty20 internationals with a strike-rate of 105.95 since making his debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006.

Dhoni will be keen to excel both as captain and batsman as his last World Twenty20 World Cup campaign ended in failure in England in 2009, when India failed to make it to the semi-finals.

Like record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag, Dhoni likes to dominate bowlers with a wide range of strokes and can change the course of a match in a short time.

Dhoni’s Indians face first-timers Afghanistan and South Africa in their first round group, with the top two advancing to the Super Eights round.

ICC World Twenty20

India go into the ICC World Twenty20 determined to avoid a second big failure in three years in the Caribbean with a solid all-round performance.

India, who suffered a humiliating first-round exit in the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies in 2007, need to show their depth in batting, especially after losing hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag to a shoulder injury.

With record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar not part of the T20 side since 2007, the onus will be on skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh to put up a formidable batting show.

India were in a similar situation ahead of the last year’s tournament in England, but the result was a big disappointment for their fans as they failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

They travelled to England just a few days after the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, with coach Gary Kirsten citing “fatigue” as one of the reasons for the team’s failure.

The limbs will be tired this time also as Indians played virtually non-stop cricket for more than a month in the recent IPL which ended five days before the Cup, but Dhoni downplayed the fatigue factor.

“We will be going into the Twenty20 fully prepared, though we will have very little time to refresh ourselves,” said Dhoni.

“As professionals, we are always committed to giving our best. There can be no excuse for failure.”

Former champions India are expected to clear the first hurdle having been drawn in the same group as first-timers Afghanistan and South Africa, with the top two advancing to the Super Eights.

Batting will be India’s main strength, with Dhoni, Raina, Gambhir, Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan all capable of dominating any attack with their exciting stroke-play.

The conditions in the Caribbean are likely to favour India more than those in England where their batsman often struggled, especially against short-pitched bowling, on seaming tracks.

India have named two newcomers, batsman Murali Vijay as Sehwag’s replacement and paceman Vinay Kumar, after the players’ impressive performances in the IPL.

The growing success of the IPL may suggest that India are keen only on the slam-bang version, but Dhoni’s men have played just two T20 internationals since the World meet in June last year.

They lost the first match against World Twenty20 runners-up Sri Lanka by 29 runs before beating the same rivals by six wickets in the second match in December.

Twenty20 cricket may be all about batsmen trying to belt the ball out of the park, but there is still a room for quality bowlers to achieve success as was shown in the recent IPL.

India have effective seamers in Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra, who are capable of testing batsmen with variations. Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja also can curb stroke-makers with a tidy line and length.

India have so far won 10 of their 20 Twenty20 Internationals.

“We are sorry for what happened but we can say we gave our best,” Dhoni said after losing to England by three wickets before thousands of Indian supporters at Lord’s cricket ground in London.

“We had experienced guys who can handle the pressure. It was a day when nothing much worked for us.”

“India is an emotional country,” Dhoni said, adding: “We are more disappointed than them (Indian fans).”

But Dhoni denied repeated suggestions at the press conference that Indian players were exhausted from playing too many matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“You can’t blame it on tiredness. It’s not an excuse,” the Indian skipper said, adding playing more matches was better for players.

“It is a demanding format because you play at different venues. It’s not like you play three or four games at the same point,” he said.

“If you see me and say he’s not giving his hundred percent then hold me responsible. Performance is a different matter.”

“We didn’t really perform well as a team.”

Dhoni, however, admitted that he was failing to fire his guns while batting, having scored only three boundaries and not a single six in a knock of 30 Sunday that was relatively sedate by his explosive standards.

“I’m not comfortably clearing the park – that’s for sure. I’m working hard on it, and hopefully I’ll be back with hitting sixes.”

Dhoni said he elected to field after winning the toss because the wicket plays “a bit better” under the lights.

He gave credit to England’s battery of pace bowlers, who fired a steady stream of short-pitched shoulder-high balls at the Indian batsmen, working to a game plan.

“Their bowlers started well. They were aggressive and used the bouncer and the short ball well,” Dhoni said.

“They bowled the bouncer really well. They used the short balls and mixed them with slower bouncers. There are quite a few lessons to be learnt from this, hopefully during the time we have off from here, we can really look to work on this area.”

“The run rate climbed and the timing of the wickets was crucial. We failed with the bat. There is no excuse.”

He said the decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja in the batting order was taken to help stabilize the Indian innings.

“Yuvraj could have gone in higher but we expected Jadeja to play for a few overs and stabilize the innings for us.

“It was unfortunate that Yuvraj was out that way (by stumping)…. It was one of those days.”

“We lost wickets at unfortunate times. If the opposition score 153 runs and you are not able to score them there is no excuse.

“If the run-rate was close to nine or 10 an over I thought we could achieve that but the timing of wickets was crucial and the run-rate really climbed on us.”

However, Dhoni promised India will bounce back at the next Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

“We lost in the 2007 World Cup and we lost in 50 overs, that was the worst part of my career. This loss is disappointing but still I don’t think it comes near to the loss we had in the 50-over World Cup.

“We were never really up to the mark but in nine months’ time there will be another World Cup and that is the only good thing we can say now.

“We’ll try to do well.”

“Cricket never tests your character when you are doing really well. It tests you when you are not doing well. I think this is a testing time for us but it’s not the end of the road.”

Asked if injured opener Virender Sehwag’s absence had an impact on India’s performance, Dhoni said: “He is the sort of player you can’t really replace – we missed him. When he starts off the bowler is under pressure. He’s a great player to have in your side.”

He said Sehwag’s replacement Rohit Sharma “did the job in percentage terms”.

“Of course I have changed. But that is part and parcel of life. It’s not easy, I am also a human being. I too have shortcomings but I am open to suggestions,” said the man who was dubbed ‘captain cool’ by the media for his calm demeanor.

But after close to two years as captain, Dhoni’s relationship with the media were strained here due to a newspaper report of him being at loggerheads with vice-captain Virender Sehwag.

The report infuriated Dhoni to such an extent that he turned up with the entire squad at a press conference in a show of unity.

Matters came to a head when it was decided to send Sehwag home due to a shoulder injury and the news came out on a few TV channels even before the BCCI had sent out an official confirmation.

Sparks flew in a press conference after that with an agitated Dhoni refusing to answer any question on Sehwag’s injury.

Dhoni tried to mend his strained ties with the fourth estate on Thursday and dwelled on Sehwag’s injury for the first time on the tour.

“We didn’t want to close out the Sehwag option and hence we carried him in the initial days. We didn’t want a situation where he was back home and suddenly was found fit enough to be part of the squad.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t discuss everything in media,” he said.

Away from the Sehwag fiasco, Dhoni said the Indian team was doing fine except for the slipshod fielding which needs to improve fast.

“We wouldn’t be the best fielding side in the world and we have still to improve our bowling in the last 2-3 overs,” was the candid assessment of Dhoni.

“In the four games – two warm up and two in the league stage – our performance has been satisfying. Our fielding was bit up and down and in all honesty we wouldn’t be the best fielding side of the tournament but we can be efficient in the field,” he added.

Dhoni also explained the reason for Sehwag staying put in the team hotel even though he isn’t part of the team.

“At the moment, the services of the physio can be used (for Sehwag). He is a friend of ours and part of the team for long. He would also feel good (if the physio attends on him even when he is not a part of the squad),” he explained.

Dhoni’s men lost the first sparring match of the warm-ups to New Zealand on Monday and are up against an opponent who consider themselves unlucky to lose in two previous encounters between the two sides.

Both the previous ties were in the inaugural edition in 2007 and India could cross over the finish line by a matter of chance.

Indians prevailed In the first through a ‘bowl-out’ after the two sides had tied at the same score.

In the 2007 final match in Johannesburg, Pakistan were just a stroke away from victory when Misbah-ul Haq’s scoop off Joginder Sharma landed in short fine-leg S Sreesanth’s hands.

Pakistan would be determined to settle the score for they might not get another opportunity to get even with the Indians unless both sides make it to the finals this time also.

Indians would be resigned to leaving out Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag on the bench as both are battling shoulder injuries.

They would be keen though to play Yuvraj Singh who is just about coming to terms with a bout of food poisoning, as disclosed by skipper Dhoni last night.

Fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh could have another game to get himself sorted out after the pasting of the first match.

Irfan Pathan, too, would be hoping for a few more overs under his belt, as would be the ambition of bowlers Praveen Kumar and Yusuf Pathan also.

Ishant Sharma would look to build upon his superb success of the first game and so would be for batters Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina.

Opener Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni would have another opportunity to spend some time in the middle and be in a better frame of mind before the real stuff unrolls from Friday onwards.

Pakistan, who lost their first warm up match against South Africa, could field 17-year-old fast bowling sensation Mohammed Aamer who is tipped to be the ‘revelation’ of this tournament by fast bowling legend Wasim Akram.

Aamer, a tall and skinny lad from the Punjab province of Pakistan, regularly hits upwards of 140  kmph in speed and he could make a formidable fast bowling trio with Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir.

Gul and Tanvir are star bowlers of this format. Gul was the highest wicket-taker in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup while Tanvir was the best bowler of the first Indian Premier League.

Dhoni, who carried out a few different experiments in the last night’s match at the Lord’s, said he kept Ishant Sharma for middle overs, a move which paid dividends, but the idea of the pacer bowling a new length at death did not really click.

“Instead of yorkers, we wanted to bowl back of the length deliveries in the final three overs. Unfortunately it didn’t work,” Dhoni told reporters after losing the match by nine runs.

“We have seen other teams do it regularly so we wanted to use this opportunity of warm-up game to try it out. Unfortunately, it didn’t work today. If we have to go to the basics of bowling yorkers, we would do so,” he said.

India conceded nearly 40 runs in the final three overs and compounded the problem by scoring just 24 runs off the final four over of their chase.

“It’s just not about doing well in the first few overs or in the end. It’s critical that teams don’t lose too many wickets between 6 and 10 overs. That’s why somebody like Ishant Sharma can be critical in the middle overs. He could dry up the runs and batsmen could lose wickets in trying to go after him,” Dhoni said.

However, Dhoni’s idea of promoting Rohit Sharma as an opener in place of Virender Sehwag, who is carrying a shoulder injury, was very successful.

Indians suffered their fourth successive defeat at the hands of New Zealand and their skipper Daniel Vettori, with figures of 3 for 23, once again played a critical hand.

“Four defeats in four matches is a bit of concern,” conceded the Indian captain, adding that “however, in one of the overs he was also hit for 20 runs by Suresh Raina. So it’s not as if he can’t be attacked or 40-50 runs can’t be taken off his bowling.”

Dhoni pointed out that a side of the ground was shorter though he felt it’s going to be the trend in Twenty20 games.

“One side is always shorter and teams try to take advantage of it. If it’s managed well, even a score of 80 runs from the final eight overs is possible.

“However, once the asking rate goes beyond nine and half, it becomes difficult,” he said.

The 28-year-old captain felt spinners would call the shots in the World Twenty20 Championships.

“Most of the sides have quality spinners in their ranks as they understand slow bowlers have a huge role to play. Spinners, I am sure, will have a bigger impact in this tournament,” he said.

Chasing 171, Dhoni’s team seemed cruising to a victory before New Zealand’s discipline bowling at death put paid to defending champion India’s hopes.

Dhoni, however, preferred to look at the positives and said he was not unduly worried about the loss.

“Obviously we had some targets. A couple of batsmen got really good starts. Of course during the game we lost wickets at crucial times but we wanted to try a few things, specially in bowling and all of that worked for us,” Dhoni explained.

“Quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I’m not really worried,” he said.

“Besides, we missed quite a few key players,” Dhoni added.

Dhoni was particularly happy about Ishant Sharma who returned to form with a four-wicket haul on Monday.

“I think it would give him great deal of confidence. He is a bowler who should be bowling at the start and also in the end. In between he came and got us those crucial wickets,” Dhoni said.

Laid low by food poisoning, Yuvraj Singh didn’t play today, while Virender Sehwag also skipped the match due to fitness reasons.

Dhoni assured they would all regain fitness before India’s next warm-up match against Pakistan on Wednesday.

“A couple of guys had food poisoning but I’m sure everyone will be fine before our next warm-up game,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori was elated after the win which he attributed to team effort.

“It was a very good performance. Rohit (Sharma) and (Suresh) Raina were destructive and to come back from there, I must say I’m reasonably happy.

“I think we managed our innings well,” he added.

The team arrived last night and hit the practice session without wasting time.

“Besides the training session, the team has no other programme today,” Anirudh Chaudhry, media manager of the team, said.

Before the team’s departure from Mumbai, Dhoni said he was confident about retaining the title as the current team had enough experience of Twenty20 cricket.

India play their opening match against Bangladesh on June 6 with Ireland being their other opponent in Group A of the 12-team tournament.

The 15-member India squad has a deep batting line-up and a potent pace and spin attack.

The team is scheduled to play two practice games against New Zealand and arch-rivals Pakistan before heading to Nottingham for their league games.

“Dhoni is a certainty and unless there’s a serious injury to him I don’t think there’s a need for a back-up”, said the former Test opener, who was the coach when India clinched the first edition of the tournament in South Africa in September, 2007.

“In case there’s a need they can always summon some one from India. The work load for the wicket-keeper in 20 days is also not too much. That’s the reason the selectors have added a fifth medium pacer to give the team more options in English conditions,” he explained.

Former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar also refused to take up the absence of second stumper in the Indian squad as an issue.

When asked Dhoni on Friday about the matter before the team’s departure to London, he said the question, if at all, needed to be addressed to the selectors.