Mahendra Singh Dhoni is confident India will respond to their defeat against West Indies at the ICC World Twenty20.
India on the brink after West Indies defeat
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is confident his side will respond to their seven-wicket defeat against West Indies at the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.
The defending champions are facing a shock exit unless they can win their two remaining Group E matches - against England at Lord's on Sunday and South Africa at Trent Bridge two days later.
Dhoni insists his team will thrive under the pressure of having to perform after Dwayne Bravo's unbeaten 66 off 49 balls guided West Indies to a target of 154 with eight balls remaining.
"The pressure will bring the best out of us," promised Dhoni, whose side won the inaugural tournament two years ago after having their opening match washed out.
"We'll be under pressure to perform in the next game but that was the story in the last World Cup.
"After the first game, every other game was a do-or-die situation for us and we played some of the toughest teams and got through to the finals to win the Cup so it's not like we can't do it again.
"You have to be at your best because some of the teams are playing really good cricket so you don't really want to take chances."
India recovered from the loss of three early wickets to post a total of 153-7, mainly thanks to Yuvraj Singh's brilliant 67 off 43 balls.
Despite dismissing West Indies captain Chris Gayle cheaply, Bravo guided his side home - and they could all but seal a place in the semi-finals if they triumph over South Africa at the Oval on Saturday.
Off day
"We'll just consider it an off day for us but in this format we have seen some of the best sides losing so we're not worried too much about it," added Dhoni.
"Even though we didn't bat well, we still had the firepower to make a game out of it and it ran until the second last over. Hopefully when we turn up for the next game we won't make too many errors."
Gayle, meanwhile, was delighted two of West Indies younger players in Bravo and Lendl Simmons, who hit a useful 44 off 37 balls, had helped to secure the victory.
"I'm really glad to see two younger players stepping up, it's really good for the team," said Gayle. "It's up to us to build on this and put our best foot forward in the next game.
"India are a quality team, they bat down to the last player, but we got a tremendous start from Fidel Edwards and picking up wickets at the top of the order made it difficult for them to get off to a flier."
But Gayle was not so happy about having another match starting at 1.30pm on Saturday, having not finished completed the win over India until nearly 9.00pm on Friday evening.
"It would be nice if we could have another evening game, but we'll just have to set our minds, put this behind us and focus on tomorrow," he added.
"It's difficult. You might look at it and say it's a Twenty20, but this format of the game is draining mentally - we'll just have to switch on as quickly as possible."
