After the voluminous IPL season now it’s time for some nation VS nation games as the T20 World Cup is just around the corner for Team India.
India will begin their campaign against arch-rival Pakistan on 24th October but before that, they will play two warm-up games against England and Australia on 18th and 20th October respectively.
Suresh Raina’s message for the Team
Former World Cup winner, Suresh Raina feels that the Team should go all in and win this tournament for their skipper, Virat Kohli as it will be his last assignment as a Captain.
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For India, the message at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is simple — do it for Virat Kohli. It will probably be his last time at this tournament as captain, so it’s very important for him to make everyone believe we can do it and for us to get behind him,” wrote Raina in his column for the ICC.
India fans can’t wait for the T20 World Cup to start for this reason. We have the players, we have the momentum — we just need to go out there and execute now. All of our players have just played the Indian Premier League in the UAE and they have played themselves into top form with eight or nine games in this environment,” added Raina.
Players selected in the Indian squad for the World Cup squad had played more or less 7 matches in this condition and should be able to acclimatize to the hot and humid conditions in the UAE.
What is the key to success for India according to Suresh Raina?
Suresh Raina feels that the top order which has the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kl Rahul, and Skipper Virat Kohli needs to have a good tournament as they will be key to success for India in the World Cup.
He said “For me, the key to success for India’s batting lies in the top three. Rohit Sharma is a gun player — he has a brilliant record at ICC events in the past and had a great IPL. We need Rohit, KL Rahul, and Virat to bat through to 15 overs and lay the platform. They can set the momentum for the India team by doing this.
There are lots of electric combinations in the middle order and obviously, Rishabh Pant is going to play a key role there. Hardik Pandya is also very capable as a power hitter. But if the top three are still there at that stage of the innings, there is no target that India can’t chase.”
One question which will be answered in these two warm-up games will be about the fitness of Hardik Pandya, can be a bowl and provide the balance which the team needs as he has not recently bowled a single ball and had a very below par IpL season. Over the years India’s top three had consistently performed. India needs to get the best 11 after watching out the performance in the two warm-up games against the quality opponents.
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