Parthiv Patel backs India to lift T20 World Cup trophy

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has backed India to win the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup. Patel, 36, stated in a recent chat with author Boria Majumdar that there is no reason why India cannot win the ICC tournaments, given the kind of talent pool and players the team has.

Sharing his views during an online interaction regarding Majumdar’s recent book “Mission Domination”, Patel said: “Without a doubt. I don’t have a single doubt in my mind whether this team can win an ICC tournament or this [England] series. The team has everything in it to win and dominate world cricket for another five to 10 years.”

Pointing out the progression and the giant strides that India has taken in the last couple of decades, he said: “If you look our [India’s] history, what we were in the 2000s, what we were in 2010s and now where we are. I think we are just an improving unit. So, we will keep on improving and we are going to keep on dominating. My hopes are very high. Though there is a World Cup every year, I feel India can become the world champions, there is no doubt about that. I think this is the right time and right team to do it as well,” he added.

India’s ICC trophy drought

Notably, India’s wait for an ICC trophy has lasted for eight years now, with their last win in a multi-team tournament dating back to the Champions Trophy 2013 triumph in England. Recently, India lost the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton. While in between these two events, India has proceeded for the ODI World Cup semi-finals twice (2015 and 2019), they lost to Australia and New Zealand respectively to exit the tournaments.

India managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy final in 2017, although they went down by a massive margin of 180 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan. The eight-year drought also has some painful memories in the 20-over World Cup, where India, after winning the inaugural edition in 2007 under MS Dhoni, qualified for their second final in 2014 but ended up conceding the title to Sri Lanka, while they lost against West Indies in the 2016 semi-finals.

With an impending T20 World Cup, the Indian team has only one way to move: forward; as Virat Kohli would himself eye the elusive ICC trophy.

Here’s ⁦@parthiv9⁩ on why he thinks this team can certainly win ⁦@ICC⁩ tournaments and also this series. Agree or disagree? ⁦@cricketaakash⁩ ⁦@kushansarkar⁩ this was at the launch of #MissionDomination pic.twitter.com/UUfddnsrfK

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) September 2, 2021