Coping with home pressure vital for India to win World Cup: Wright

"As for maturity in them, let us see. They are playing very good cricket. We will know in two months," said Wright who was India coach from 2000 to 2005.

"I still watch and follow them. To be honest, it is good to be here and play against them tomorrow. I would not be doing my job and it is tough for me to provide predictions about. They look after themselves and I have got enough to do with my players," said the former Kiwi opening batsman.

Wright talked about the negative reactions he had garnered from Indian fans whenever the team played badly during his tenure.

"It is a fact that you have to deal with it. It is part of your life when you play in your own country. It goes as far as family and friends and expectations are there even when you walk through the airports. It is something that the Indian team will have to deal with it," he said.

Wright also made it clear that his plate is full currently and he is not thinking of coming back to India to take over the coaching job once Gary Kristen leaves after the World Cup.

"I think as a coach it is not good to look too far ahead. I am not even thinking of anything other than this tournament. You know coaching is tough and you make this team or that team you are sometimes judged by the results. This is a tough assignment. I am really thinking hard about New Zealand team in the World Cup. None of those things really crossing in my mind and you cannot afford to," he said.

Wright also felt that India's new ball bowler Zaheer Khan has improved by leaps and bounds from the time he had left the coaching assignment.

"He has done really well. I had him with me right at the start of his career. He had learnt the importance of fitness and bowling well from just hard work. His injuries are fact of life. He always had huge talent and now he looks to me a lot stronger. He is now very clever with what he could do with his swings. I imagine Zaheer and his teammates take an enormous amount of satisfaction from where he started and where he is now. It is credit to him, to be honest."

New Zealand players have talked about the advantage of his familiarity with Indian conditions, but Wright said it won't have much impact on the performance of the team.

"It helps them in some respects, particularly known conditions. As coach, it gives me a little bit of background. That is only a small thing to be honest. It is about helping the players play better cricket and in batting we got to get large totals. It is helpful but I will not read too much in to it," said Wright.

"India had a very good result the other day against the Australians. We beat Ireland and did something well in that match. Tomorrow's game is a much bigger one for us. If we can perform well it will be great boost for our confidence. We are still in the building stage.

"If we are to compete with India we really have to play some good cricket. That is what we are just working at," he said, talking about tomorrow's game.

Asked if he had enough time to prepare New Zealand team for the World Cup as he was appointed only last December, Wright said, "It happened very quickly. I know the players with whom I am working with. When you have young players it is some sort of honeymoon with the players. It is pretty tough time in the subcontinent from the results point of view.

"It is really important to try and help the players in performance and confidence. That is critical and obviously it comes from the results that you get."

Wright was instrumental in building the foundation for a strong Indian team before it became the world number one but he was not sure if he can do that with the New Zealand side.

"Those things do not happen quickly. From the technical point of view at this level changes take a long time. In the end taking over the Indian team is a great opportunity and good preparation. It was matter of moulding and becoming to understand that are in specialised positions.

Last chance for Team India to assess combination ahead of World Cup

"In New Zealand, we do not have the numbers. The talent there is not as big as India has. What we need to do is to make sure that we make pathways for players who do have talent and look after them and identifying them at young age of 17 to 18. Make sure that they get playing opportunities and they can raise the level of play. In New Zealand the gap between first class cricket and International cricket is wide and we need to bridge that gap with high performance programme."

Wright said he does not interfere in the job of the bowling coach as former South African fast bowler Allan Donald is doing a good job.

"I have left that job to bowling coach Allan Donald. To be honest, it could not be working with a better person. I had not had a bowling coach with me before taking a team as a coach at international level. I leave that part of coaching bowlers to him. Very important that players get one message and not mixed messages. We will be a tough side and we are really working hard in building our team."