World T20 victory crucial for India: Ravichandran Ashwin – Cricket News Update
Indian spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
The inaugural edition of the World T20, held in South Africa during 2007-2008, saw http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the tournament final at The Wanderers Stadium on September 24, 2007, to be crowned World T20 champions.
However, the team has failed to have similar success in the next two editions of the format – the 2009 edition saw the team knocked out of the competition by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 sending the Men in Blue home.
Despite having won the 2011 ICC World Cup to be crowned world champions in the 50-over format of the game, the team have been on a downward spiral as far as the extended-overs format is concerned. The Pataudi Trophy played in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 last year saw India suffering a humiliating 0-4 defeat, which knocked them off their top spot on the ICC’s Test team rankings.
The debacle was followed by another 0-4 whitewash, this time at the hands of Australia, which pushed the team lower down on the rankings. In order to make up for their Test failures, and reaffirm faith in the team, Ashwin is of the view that the team needs another morale-boosting victory on the international stage.
“We won the 2007 World Cup and then this format has eluded us. We didn't do well in the last two World Cups,” Ashwin pointed out. “Now to put in faith and win this World Cup is critical for the team, in the sense that we have done a good job but over the last one year we had tough time in Australia and England. To resurrect that and actually to do a good job here is important to everybody.”
India have had a fair year in the T20 format of the game, having won 2 out of the 5 T20Is they have played in 2012. The last match was a narrow 1-run defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, and the team will be looking to get their act together as they prepare to face host team Sri Lanka and arch-rivals Pakistan in warm-up matches, before the mega T20 event kicks off on September 18.
Tags: