Against Pakistan, make sure you give your best: Raina ahead of T20 WC

Former Indian batsman Suresh Raina talking about India’s 2011 World Cup clash against Pakistan said that a player needs to give his best when playing against the arch-rivals. Virat Kohli and company are grouped with Babar Azam’s Pakistan for the upcoming T20 World Cup starting from October 17 in the UAE and Oman. 

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India faced Pakistan in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali. The hosts, riding on Sachin Tendulkar’s 85 runs, defeated Misbah-ul-Haq’s team by 29 runs to advance into the final. Raina described the game as “his most memorable one.” India defeated Sri Lanka in the final to win the 2011 World Cup. 

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“I think the match against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup is the most memorable one. India had to win the semi-final as the game was crucial for both teams. Pakistan was on top of the pool, as they played a lot of matches in Sri Lanka. Definitely, I would say 2011 (was most memorable). After that, our team got stronger and we never lost against them in the World Cup. 2011 World Cup was critical because we were playing the tournament on our home soil and we had pressure to play one more game in the final,” Raina said on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

The T20 World Cup 2020 that was originally scheduled to take place in India will take place in Oman and UAE. 

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“The emotions were different but, we all managed to stay calm. When you’re playing against Pakistan, you make sure you give your best. You need to give it back to your team; you need to work hard on your intention, planning, and every other thing. We worked hard, and the whole team did well,” Raina said.

However, before the team takes a flight to the Middle East, players will be seen competing in the remainder of the IPL 2021 starting from September 19. India’s premier T20 tournament has also been shifted to the UAE due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. 

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Raina will be seen partnering with MS Dhoni, as the two would eye a fourth title with Chennai Super Kings. Talking about Dhoni, Raina said, “We’ve played a lot of matches for India as well as CSK. He has played almost 200 matches for India and for CSK. I think it’s just the emotion and on top of that, we have that respect for each other. I have learned a lot from him, and he is like a big brother to me. We have won a lot of trophies together and have lost a lot of finals as well, but I think the belief, the respect we have for each other is immense.”

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“And that’s what everyone loves about it (our bond). Hopefully, when we go to Dubai, we will have a camp and we can again win it for him. I think the way we were playing this year; we were having some extra confidence from his captaincy and he was enjoying each other’s success. He was giving freedom to all the players and having Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis on the side, we had the momentum. Hopefully, when we go to Dubai, we can do it again for MS,” he added.