India will win T20 World Cup if they beat Pakistan in opening game: Suresh Raina

Former cricketer Suresh Raina is of the opinion that India will win the T20 World Cup 2022 if they clinch their first match of the tournament against arch-rivals Pakistan. India open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on 23 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In the 2021 T20 World Cup, India lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in their first match and were later dumped out of the tournament in the group stage.

“Definitely, if we win the opening game against Pakistan, we will win the World Cup,” former India player Raina told NDTV.

“The team is doing well right now. (Mohammed) Shami has replaced (Jasprit) Bumrah, it will give the side a bit of X-factor. We have Arshdeep Singh, Suryakumar Yadav. Everyone is in good form, Virat Kohli is looking really good. Rohit Sharma is a very good leader, if we win the first match, it will set a good tone for us. Everyone in the country is praying for them and I really want them to win the World Cup.”

Shami was initially not a part of the T20 World Cup squad and was only selected later as a result of a back injury to Jasprit Bumrah. Shami, who himself has not played cricket for a while due to COVID-19 and related illness, returned in style in India’s warmup game against Australia on Monday.

Bowling the final over of the match, also his first of the game, Shami successfully defended 10 runs and took three wickets.

Talking about Shami’s addition, Raina said that while no one can replace Bumrah, India have picked the “best option” available.

“I would not call him a perfect replacement because you cannot replace Jasprit Bumrah or Ravindra Jadeja. They have played consistently for India and they have given performances. But the best option you had, you have selected him. Shami has given good performances, he has been in good form. BCCI have done really well in sending the team to Australia 15 days prior to the tournament. The grounds are big, overall I think the preparation has been nice. We will need to play fearless cricket and show good intent,” said Raina.

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