India’s Ravichandran Ashwin says the upcoming World Twenty20 is “critical” for his nation as they seek to reiterate their dominance in the game.
The spinner reflected on India’s recent record in world tournaments ahead of the event, as a reason to emphasise its importance.
“We won the 2007 World Cup and then this format has eluded us,” he told reporters.
“We didn’t do well in the last two World Cups. 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… Definitely at the back of mind everybody knows that it is a very crucial tournament for us.”
India begin their World Twenty20 campaign on Wednesday, September 19, against Afghanistan.