Injured Zaheer to miss warm-ups

	Virender Sehwag too is down with a shoulder injury and he may miss India's opening warm-up game on Monday against New Zealand © Getty Images
Related Links Player/Officials: MS Dhoni | Zaheer Khan | Virender Sehwag Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20 Teams: India

The biggest challenge for defending champions India at the World Twenty20 is maintaining the fitness of their players. For the moment India are sweating on the fitness of Zaheer Khan, their strike bowler, who is yet to recover completely from the injury to his bowling arm, picked mid-way into the IPL recently. Indian captain MS Dhoni said Zaheer will not be seen in the two warm-up games in the lead-up to the main event, which starts on June 5. A day later, India play their opening game against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.

"Zaheer is going to miss the warm-ups and we are hoping he will be fit for the first game," Dhoni said during the captains' media conference at Lord's. In another likely setback, Virender Sehwag is recovering from a shoulder injury he picked after the IPL. Team sources revealed to Cricinfo that Sehwag, too, will miss tomorrow's practice match against New Zealand at Lord's.

"Keeping every player fit and maintaining their fitness is going to be our challenge," a senior member from the team management said.

India arrived on Friday evening and have already had two optional net sessions. On Saturday, Harbhajan Singh was the only one missing while today, Zaheer, Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma decided to opt out.

Despite the injury concerns, Dhoni is still quietly confident about India defending the crown, which they won in a fairytale fashion in 2007 after being the last to embrace the Twenty20 format. It was also Dhoni's first captaincy stint. He has pleasant memories, no doubt, but is not getting carried away this time.

Though the majority of his players were in prime form in the recently concluded IPL in South Africa, Dhoni is still wary of the dangers of complacency and injury in the fast-paced Twenty20 environment. He is also not getting bogged down by the pressure of defending the crown. "We are not thinking about the results," he said. "We have just come into the tournament and will take on one team at a time. This will help us rather than thinking what we will look like at the end of the tournament."

India have played five games after their 2007 triumph, winning two and losing three - the last two ending in defeats to New Zealand. Dhoni is unperturbed about the twin losses though. "By the second game, we had got the hang of the local conditions and it ended in a close finish, customary in Twenty20. But now, we are fresh from IPL."

During the IPL, Gary Kirsten, the India coach, had told Cricinfo that mental fatigue could affect the Indians, a view echoed by both Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar recently.

But Dhoni disagreed, saying the players are now used to the itinerant lifestyle. "Personally I don't think it hampers us too much because we are used to it. We play throughout the year. If you look at the plus point, we are the most experienced side when it comes to the Twenty20 format.

"In the last three years there have been less changes in the side, so we gel well as a team. Almost each individual has played around 80 to 90 games and they come up with ideas. If you have 50 ideas you can pick and choose. We have made loads of difference but we have to keep improving."

Dhoni added that the highlight of India's campaign in 2007 was the positive attitude which helped script the improbable after the first game was washed out. "From then on we were in a do-or-die situation. I think the aggression we showed was particularly important and we backed each other very well. Hopefully it will work for us this time also."