Former Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera has backed India to do special things in the T20 World Cup 2024. The tournament will be played in the West Indies and the United States at the end of June this year.
India won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. Since then, they have yet to win the silver medal for the second time. In 2014, they lost the final against the Sri Lankan team of which Perera was a part.
Australia won the T20 World Cup in 2021, followed by England in 2022. While speaking to ANI, Perera felt that this Indian team can do special things in the tournament. Earlier, India went on a 10-match winning streak in the 2023 World Cup before losing to Australia in the final in Ahmedabad.
“I feel India can do something special in this T20 World Cup, also because we saw the ODI World Cup, where they were unbeaten until the final. I think they can do something special in the T20 World Cup as well,” Perera said.
Thisara Perera backs Rohit Sharma as India captain in T20 World Cup 2024
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah recently confirmed that Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team in the ICC event. There are positive chances of Virat Kohli also playing in the tournament given his form in the ODI World Cup where he scored 765 runs in the tournament. Perera backed Rohit to win the T20 World Cup for India as captain. Under him, India lost the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals against England.
“I always go with mature players. I feel Rohit has done a great job over the last few years. Before the World Cup I don’t think it will be necessary to change the captaincy. I prefer to go with Rohit Sharma,” Perera added.
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Thisara Perera was also confident when talking about Sri Lanka’s chances in the tournament. She said the team is on the right track with its recent generation of players. Sri Lanka recently played Afghanistan at home, beating them in all formats. They won the T20I series 2-1. They finished runners-up twice and won the T20 World Cup title in 2014 beating India in the final.
“I think we are on the right track now, we are getting into the habit of winning. It is good for the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Hopefully we can do something special in this T20 World Cup,” he added.
India last played a T20I series against Afghanistan, where they swept their Asian rivals cleanly. Before Afghanistan, under Suryakumar Yadav, India won a T20I series against Australia after the World Cup.
Indi is the highest-ranked T20I team, followed by New Zealand, England and Australia. The T20I series that India played against Afghanistan was the last one before the T20 World Cup. The Indian players will now play in IPL 2024 before the squad for the T20 World Cup is announced.
“The league will begin on March 22 in Chennai,” informed IPL president Arun Singh Dhumal.
Chennai Super Kings are the winners of the previous season. They defeated Gujarat Titans in the final to win the title for the fifth time. Meanwhile, the IPL 2024 schedule is now out and CSK and RCB will play the first match of the campaign on March 22 at Chepauk.
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