Collingwood credits India for turnaround, hails batsmen

Melbourne, March 17 (IANS) Ahead of Thursday's India vs Bangladesh quarterfinal, former England captain Paul Collingwood credited the players and the team management for India's turnaround in the World Cup after their dismal tour Down Under.

"India has been awesome and full credit goes to the players and management for turning it around. They have been in Australia for a long time now and they had a really tough One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia and they could have been mentally shot when the tournament started but they have turned things around," Collingwood wrote in a column for the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.

He heaped praise on India's batting order, saying the team has adjusted to the conditions pretty well and have come out in flying colours.

"They are playing good quality cricket. They have adjusted to the conditions really well. They were tested by Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn on bouncy tracks and they came through it with flying colours because they have got such a strong batting line-up," the former right-handed batsman said.

"They're on the march and they'll be confident. Every team in the quarterfinals will be confident, they can do something special. Bangladesh is a bowling unit you can target and the Indians will be too strong for them."

Collingwood, who played 69 Tests and 197 ODIs for England, said Bangladesh was a surprise package in the group stages and is happy they have reached the quarters by knocking out England.

"Probably the biggest surprise of the group phase was Bangladesh playing as well as they have. They had the great win against England and it's a really good achievement for them to get through to the quarterfinals," he added.

"It looks as though their batting has improved. They have got guys who naturally time the ball and given any width they score pretty well."

Collingwood said Australia are the favourites to win the Cup.

"I can't wait for these quarterfinal matches but if I had to pick a winner, it would be Australia, simply because the final is at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)," he said.