World Cup is important, everything else can wait - Dhoni

India captain MS Dhoni has decided not to fly back home and instead spearhead their World Cup preparations ahead of their campaign staring February 15. Dhoni was blessed with a baby girl on Friday. His wife, Sakshi Dhoni gave birth to their first child at a city hospital around 2 pm. Dhoni, while addressing the media during a press conference in Adelaide, asserted that the World Cup is his prime priority and that he will not be taking the flight back home. "I am on national duty. The World Cup is important. Everything else can wait," Dhoni said.

India's first World Cup warm-up match takes place against Australia on Sunday before they play their first league match against Pakistan on February 15. Dhoni, who was informed the news Friday night, hadn't reacted to it until now and it was unknown whether he would dash to India and be back on time for the opener. TOI reported that Sakshi was brought to the hospital in the morning after she complained of labour pain. She was soon shifted to the labour room. Due to certain complications, however, she was eventually taken to the operation theatre where the baby was born. Sakshi's mother and mother-in-law were both present in the hospital at the time of the birth.

"The baby weighs about two kilogram and is healthy. The mother is also fine," said a family friend. The family, however, refused to give details. Dhoni, who is in Australia with the Indian team, was given the good news over the phone.Being the defending champions, Dhoni admitted that he is aware of the kind of pressure that mounts on the hosts and that it will be no different for Australia and New Zealand. Out of all the World Cups that have been played, India is the only team to have won the title at home.

"Statistics tell you that being the hosts of World Cup is not easy and Australia and New Zealand will experience the same," Dhoni said. "When the World Cup took place in India, people expected us to win not because we were a good team, but because it was in India. "The expectations of the people are very high which we figured out when we were touring in India and playing at different venues in the 2011 World Cup. We can't think about the expectation level. We constantly have to deal with the expectation levels of the fans of India and we need to think and concentrate on executing our plans. We know what needs to be done and we will be concentrating on that."

India embarked on a two-month long tour of Australia late November last year where they played four Tests and a tri-series. The fact that there were many younger players in the ranks, it was assumed that playing in Australian conditions will help them prepare better for the mega-event. However, India failed to win even a single match, losing the Test series 2-0 and getting knocked out by England in a virtual tri-series semi-final. "Only time will tell if playing a four-Test series and a tri-series before the World Cup had any impact or not. There is a fine line between cooked and under-cooked in terms of preparation," Dhoni said. "What is important is to adapt to the conditions and the middle overs. Bowling in the middle overs will also be crucial because that will put pressure on the opposition which will put a cap on the scoring from the 35th over onwards and the slog. We haven't had much opportunity to bowl in the slog overs which is something that will come into action when the World Cup starts.

"Also, we have to alter out batting order according to the conditions. Wickets in hands is our strength and once we have wickets in hand we can really exploit the conditions. We are not that deep when it comes to batting and are different to other teams. You have to pick options and learn to score runs freely."

Dhoni refused to let the hype surrounding the India-Pakistan game affect him and said that although India and Pakistan make for a riveting contest, he isn't treating this match any differently. India have always emerged victorious against Pakistan in World Cup and they lead the race 5-0.

"A lot of people have different views about the India-Pakistan matches. How I personally take it is similar to playing Australia, Sri Lanka or any other Test playing nation, Dhoni said. "The moment you start thinking about a traditional rivalry, you are just going to be adding pressure to yourself."

Dhoni also emphasised on the importance of warm-up matches and that it will give his team the ideal platform to get the right combination. Apart from playing Australia on Sunday, India also play Afghanistan on Tuesday. "We will use the two warm-up games to settle with the playing eleven that will feature in the first game. The warm-ups will be crucial from the perspective of what we want to achieve out of it," Dhoni said.

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