DURBAN (South Africa), March 19: Try as they might to avoid it, India can’t help having one eye on the World Cup final.

Although India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and coach John Wright have warned that Kenya, their unexpected semifinal opponents, cannot be taken lightly in Thursday’s day-night encounter here at Kingsmead, both have unintentionally made it clear they expect to be involved in Sunday’s climax at the Wanderers.

On Tuesday, former New Zealand captain Wright, when asked about star batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s chances of becoming man of the tournament, said: “He’s still got two games to play. They are very important innings.”

And on Monday, Harbhajan had said: “I feel I’ve still got a big performance in this tournament and hopefully it will happen in the next two games.”

India have not appeared in a World Cup final since they won the title for the first and only time in 1983 and time will tell if Harbhajan and Wright’s words come back to haunt them.

Wright was at pains to point out his team were taking Kenya, the first non-Test nation ever to reach a World Cup semifinal, seriously even though India have already beaten them by six wickets in a Super Six game.

Wright said he expected India to go in with the same team that has got them this far even though many feel they will not need seven recognised batsmen against the East Africans’ attack.

“We don’t play a seventh batsman for insurance. We just feel it’s right for the balance of team. The last time we played Kenya, Dinesh Mongia bowled well,” explained Wright.

Veteran India paceman Javagal Srinath has been rejuvenated by the presence of youthful left-armers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, the trio taking 43 wickets between them at this World Cup.

Added to that India’s top order have also fired at crucial times with Tendulkar leading the way with a record 586 runs in the tournament.

Few expected Kenya to come this far, having beaten three Test nations — 1996 champions Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh — on the way.

In the Obuya brothers, leg-spinner Collins and wicket-keeper Kennedy, Kenya have two players who have made a name for themselves at this tournament.

Kenya, coached by former Indian World Cup winner Sandeep Patil, have several players who know what it takes to beat India in a One-day International.

The Africans have won two of their 11 one-dayers against India.

“For us to win we’ll have to play a few notches up and they’ll have to play a few notches down,” admitted Asif Karim, who was Kenya’s skipper when they first beat India at Gwalior in 1998.

“I don’t think we’ll realise what we’re in for until we get on the field on Thursday.

“There’ll be a full house, one billion people in India watching the match, everyone in Kenya and millions around the world.”

Relatives of the Kenyan team who wanted to be present in Durban for the match, failed to secure visas and were set to stay at home.

But, wherever they are, all Kenyan fans can feel very proud of Steve Tikolo’s boys in green.

Teams:

INDIA (likely): Saurav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Kaif, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongis, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra.

KENYA: Steve Tikolo (captain), Maurice Odumbe, Asif Karim, Alpesh Vadher, Ravindu Shah, Hitesh Modi, Brijal Patel, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Obuya, Joseph Angara, Peter Ongondo, David Obuya, Collins Obuya.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Daryl Harper (Australia).

TV umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia).

Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).—AFP