By Ben Kunicki BBC Sport Online

India's thumping of England in the Champions Trophy has their fans daring to dream.

Could Sourav Ganguly's men win the World Cup?

Sunday's destruction of the England attack proved the strength of the Indian batting line-up.

India World Cup contenders? Have your say

Ignore for a moment seasoned performers like Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

The star against England was Virender Sehwag, a man capable of replicating the sort of explosive start to an innings that Sanath Jayasuriya provided when Sri Lanka were crowned world champions in 1996.

Dravid's wicketkeeping could cost India

Sehwag's departure barely slowed the pace. Ganguly raced to his own century in double-quick time, taking only 45 balls over his second 50.

Had India been batting first, then a total of 350 would have been within reach.

Score 350 in a World Cup game and you give yourself a wonderful chance of sealing the deal.

Sunday's win was played out relatively familiar conditions for India.

But their performances in England during the summer showed the team are more than capable of adjusting to different conditions.

Ganguly's side are far from the finished deal.

The bowling attack is still too reliant on the spin of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.

That puts strain on the seamers - and while Zaheer Khan has emerged as a bowler of some promise, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar remain fragile.

Bangar's bowling impressed in England

India may also suffer from the lack of a proper fifth bowler.

Ganguly is not good enough, and whilst Tendulkar can take wickets, he still concedes too many runs.

Yuvraj Singh and Sehwag may have all-rounder pretensions but for the moment their bowling is unlikely to trouble top international batsmen.

In domestic cricket, Yuvraj has only 40 wickets in 69 matches, while Sehwag concedes almost five runs per over at the same standard.

Sanjay Bangar, so effective with bat and ball in the Test matches against England, may be an option that the selectors should consider.

India's poor fielding has also taken some of the gloss off their performances.

False position

It was a return to the bad old days in the field against England, with Dravid's unfamiliar position as wicketkeeper not helping matters.

Two errors - a straightforward drop from a Nasser Hussain edge and a fumbled run-out against Ronnie Irani - could and should have cost the team more.

With the likes of Mohammad Kaif batting as low as seven, there is room for a wicketkeeper or an extra bowler to play, probably at the expense of VVS Laxman or Dinesh Mongia.

Either move would give India a better chance of a World Cup victory - but for the moment their planning would indicate that changes are unlikely.

Cracks can be papered over while the batsmen are in their current dominant form.

Up against an Australia side on top of their game, such flaws would be much harder to disguise.