Twenty20 Pulse

The Indian Premier League (IPL) was a tough examination for the cricketers as it sizzled with some high-voltage cricket action. 

However, the time now is to look ahead and prepare for fresh challenges. For Indian players, it’s Mission T20 World Cup now. The event begins in England on June 5 and at stake is the title they won nearly two years ago in South Africa.

“We are really confident about doing well in England but we are under no pressure as defending champions. The team is very confident because all our players are in good form,” middle-order batsman Suresh Raina, who has emerged as one of the top T20 batsman in the Indian ranks, said on Wednesday.

“Our biggest strength is our allround ability. Even our top batters took plenty of wickets in the IPL. Yuvraj Singh got two hat-tricks while Rohit Sharma got one. Yusuf (Pathan) has been quite effective with both bat and ball and as far as I am concerned, I am enjoying my stint with the ball and I’m confident of doing well with the bat as well.

“Similarly, our bowlers are the best in the business. Our openers are one of the best in the world and everything combined makes us a very potent side. Even during the IPL, players of other countries were talking about our allrounder strength and that really made us feel good,” Raina said.

Raina pointed out that the team in recent times has got hooked to the idea of winning. “We hate to lose. Our performance under MS Dhoni, who is a world class captain, has been very good. Each one of us in the team focusses hard on the role assigned to us by the team management. At the same time, we compliment each other’s success and that is our success mantra,” Raina said.

Yusuf Pathan also felt that the momentum was with Team India. “We have some of the best players in the world and we are hungry. I know that expectations are high but I can assure you that the players are all pumped up for the show,” Yusuf assured.

All this talk about high level of confidence is fine but what about the form of the openers? Isn’t the team worried about Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir’s indifferent form in IPL?

“It’s not a worry at all. Sehwag is a class act and we all know what he is capable of doing. For him, IPL wasn’t a success, but he is too good a player to have a poor run in two consecutive series. Sehwag is a dangerous player and so is Gambhir. Like me, I am sure the others will be itching to go out and finish the job for our team,” Yusuf said.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, meanwhile, said that winning the IPL with Hyderabad has given his morale that extra boost.

“Our captain will have a lot of options to pick the playing eleven. It’s really a great feeling to be a part of the winning side in the IPL but right now, I am focussing on contributing to my team’s strength in the T20 World Cup,” Ojha said.

So, what was the biggest lesson that he learnt from IPL? “You can’t win all the 14 matches in a competition, but you have to back each other all the time. You may or may not get a chance to show your skills in the middle, but you have to be ready all the time,” Ojha added.

These new stars of Indian team are not worried about the conditions in England.

“Twenty20 is all about momentum. If you are playing matches regularly, conditions don’t matter that much,” Pathan said. “Conditions in England are more or less similar to that in South Africa. In the last one year, we have played and won in different countries, so we don’t bother about changing conditions.”

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