T20 World Cup 2021 | 'Win it for Virat Kohli' – Suresh Raina's message for team India ahead of T20 WC

India will begin their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign against Pakistan in a Super 12 Group 2 fixture in Dubai on October 24. Before that, the team will play two practice matches against Australia and England.

“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. 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,” he remarked.

India are grouped together with New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage, with two more teams set to join after the completion of Round 1. The team is well loaded in all departments, especially batting, with KL Rahul having scored 626 runs from 13 matches in IPL 2021, while Virat Kohli aggregated 405 runs in 15.

“For me, the key to success for India’s batting lies in the top three," he said. "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.”