For India, The Message At The T20 World Cup 2021 Is Simple, Do It For Virat Kohli – Suresh Raina

Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina has demanded Indian players participating in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 to win the championship for captain Virat Kohli.

The all-format captain of India, Virat Kohli has announced that he will be stepping down from T20I captaincy after T20 World Cup 2021. However, he will continue to lead India in Tests and One Day Internationals.

Suresh Raina in his column for the International Cricket Council (ICC) wrote:

“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,”

Raina further added that Indian players just need to execute their plans properly in the World Cup as players already have momentum on their side after competing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

“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.

“This (IPL) gives India an edge on all other teams and makes them one of the big favourites to win the T20 World Cup in my opinion. The conditions in UAE are very similar to what we play in India and also in Pakistan. It’s a good opportunity for the Asian teams to come and play their natural game.”

Pakistan, Australia And England Also Look Very Good Anything Can Happen In T20 Cricket – Suresh Raina

Former Indian cricketer has mentioned that there are other strong teams in World Cup and India needs to be very careful as in T20 Cricket game changes pretty quickly. He stated:

“We need to remember there are lots of other good teams in the tournament. Pakistan, Australia and England also look very good, and anything can happen in T20 cricket,” 

Meanwhile, Suresh Raina believes that India’s key to success in the T20 World Cup 2021 will be the performance of the top 3 batters Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. Raina elaborated:

“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.”

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