T20 World Cup 2021: Suresh Raina’s message to team India for upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021

Suresh Raina’s message to team India for upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

T20 World Cup 2021: Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina has left a special message for the Men in Blues as they gear up for the T20 World Cup 2021, scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.

The southpaw reckons Virat Kohli deserves to win the T20 World Cup trophy and draw curtains to his T20I captaincy roles on a high. 

It is noteworthy that regular Indian skipper Virat Kohli has decided to step down from T20I captaincy post T20 World Cup, as he wants to focus more on ODI and Test captaincy. He also announced that he will no longer lead Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL after the end of season fourteen in UAE.

“For India, the message at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is simple – do it for Virat Kohli,” said Suresh Raina.

“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,” he added in his column for ICC.

The CSK batsman believes that the Indian contingent is equipped with excellent troops and its just a matter of going out there and executing the plans to full perfection.

“India fans can’t wait for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 to start for this reason. We have the players, we have the momentum – we just need to go out there and execute now.”

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Every Indian cricketer has played at least seven to eight matches in the UAE recently and which gives the team a healthy edge over others to win the tournament.

Raina adds that the conditions in the UAE are pretty similar to the Indian surface and the pitches players get in Pakistan. The Asian teams can play their natural game and get accustomed to the conditions pretty quick.

The 34-years old cricketer said that India’s success will highly depend upon the performances of India’s top three batsmen.

“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,” he said.

India has brilliant players in the middle order who can charge from the ball one. The combination of wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant along with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja is going to be vital for the team.

“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,” Raina added.

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