A make-or-break year for India in cricket

India host the World Cup, and also have tours of England and Australia that they need to win if they’re to be remembered as a great side.

With the money flooding into the board's coffers and success on the field in recent years, the dialogue around Indian cricket is tinged with hyperbole.

Two good seasons, and comparisons are made with the great Australian sides of the past decade.

A 50th century, and television anchors happily assert that Sachin Tendulkar is better than Sir Don Bradman.

A few big pay cheques and the Indian Premier League (IPL) is as big as football's English Premier League.

Even if you ignore all that unlearned nonsense, 2011 is a massive year for Indian cricket, make no mistake.

The events of the next 12 months will dictate to a large extent how Indian cricket's finest team are remembered in the years to come.

With Gary Kirsten content to coach from the background, and MS Dhoni enjoying the sort of on-field success that eluded his predecessors, the team have scaled some sizeable peaks over the past two seasons.

But if they slip up in the World Cup on home soil and then surrender their No 1 Test ranking in England or Australia, the adulation could quickly turn ugly.

Whenever he is asked about pressure, Dhoni has become accustomed to smiling and saying that it doesn't matter who they play. And he's right.

Each time the team slip up, the inquiries can be especially amusing.

The experts and critics never pause to consider that the opposition might have played better on the day, or over five days.

That lack of perspective percolates down to the fans as well.

In a lot of ways, the ongoing Newlands Test in South Africa is a true test of India's newfound resolve.

They bucked predictions to get back into the series by winning in Durban.

But not having won a series in South Africa in four previous attempts, can they push on to what would undoubtedly be their finest achievement in the Test arena?

Or will they, as in 2007, fall short with the game there to be won?

After Newlands, the white clothes can be put into mothballs for a few months, as all the attention turns to the 50-over format.

Of the generation that were inspired to take up the game by India's improbable World Cup win of 1983, only Tendulkar remains. This will be his sixth World Cup, and probably his last.

In 1996, a dubious Eden Gardens pitch and an inspired Sri Lankan side thwarted him in the semi-final.

Seven years later, India went one better, but though Tendulkar was the again the tournament's highest run-getter, his team were no match for a rampant Australia.

Now, with Australian standards slipping and no clear favourite emerging from the pack, India have as good a chance as anyone.

Apart from the opening game in Mirpur, they could play all their matches on home soil, in front of fanatical crowds - and that can be a double-edged sword. On a good day, they can be worth an extra man. On a bad one, the players would rather be in Timbuktu.

For the present generation though, what follows the World Cup will be just as important.

India have not lost a series in England since 1996, and won their last one in 2007, while a trip to Australia no longer holds the terrors it once did.

Win both of those, and no sane person will knock their No 1 Test ranking.

Slip up badly against an ever-improving English side though and there will be renewed calls for change.

With April and May also seeing the IPL try to restore its reputation as the ultimate crucible for Twenty20 talent, you can rest assured that the next year will not be boring.