India's Virender Sehwag drops a catch during a World Cup training session in Couva yesterday. Sehwag is under pressure to maintain his place in the side. - Reuters

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

INDIA ARE hoping they find overwhelming fan support here as they begin their Group B Cricket World Cup (CWC) preliminary round campaign on the weekend.

Trinidad and Tobago is an ethnically pluralistic country, with almost 40 per cent of the population represented by south Asians.

"We always enjoy coming to Trinidad because we have always had good support here. And since we are not playing the West Indies, we expect even more support in our matches," captain Rahul Dravid said.

"We know the conditions here very well, and we remain confident of doing well."

The team arrived here late on Monday night from Trelawny, Jamaica, where it participated in the official opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup.

The team is preparing for a campaign that will see them clash with another south Asian team, Bangladesh, on Saturday, minnows Bermuda next Monday and the other south Asians in the group, Sri Lanka on March 23.

Opening slot concerns

Ahead of the team's opening match, there have been concerns over the opening position especially with attacking batsman Virender Sehwag yet to rediscover his form.

He scored 28 and 0 in his two warm-up matches last week, but Dravid shrugged off any suggestions of a crisis in the position.

"Sehwag has a big role to play, hopefully he'll fire soon," he said.

"We have four guys (Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Robin Uthappa) in the line-up who have opened for India. The team has plenty of options, so finding the right pair of openers will not be a major problem."