Playing World T20 at home will be a challenge: Ajinkya Rahane

Soon after the fixtures were released for the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 at Mumbai, Indian middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane said that it could actually turn out to be a big challenge for the Indian team playing on the home soil. Rahane, who recently struck pink in his form during the last Test against South Africa at Delhi by scoring a century in each inning, is all set to change gears for the limited overs.

The elegant right-handed batsman feels that playing at home will be challenging as more pressure is bound to be on the home side to perform. India is placed along with Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan along with another qualifying team (Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland and Oman) for the T20 mega-event.

“I am looking forward to the World T20 and I think it is a big challenge for us as a home team to do well in front of home crowd,” he said.

Rahane, who has come up with some excellent performances in the IPL before, hasn’t quite clicked for India in the T20 format. Rahane has just 273 runs in the 13 matches that he has played for India with an average of 21, which is way below his usual standards. The batsman, however, calls the shortest format of the game to be the closest to his heart.

“I enjoyed playing in all formats of the game, but T20 is a special to me. And I like to really improve on that. We have to enjoy and give our best and hope all falls in place on the very day. T20 cricket comes naturally to me,” Rahane quoted after the function of the Schedule release of the World Cup.

He also added that there are no favorites for the tournament as such and every team can be dangerous on a given day. Surely, the star batsman defended this question with ease and played safe while answering this.

“Every team is equally dangerous on a given day and I hope we do give our best and hope to come out victorious,” he said.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was also present at the Event and praised the Mumbai-batsman as one of the better timers of the cricket ball. “The power and timing Rahane has, I think it is something unique. In IPL he has shown it over and over again why he is so special batsman. It requires really hard work to be a batsman like him,” Kohli quoted.

The tournament kicks off with the Qualifiers on March 8, 2016. India will begin their World T20 Campaign on March 15 at Nagpur against New Zealand. They will play the arch-rivals Pakistan, in what is supposed to be a much-anticipated game, on March 19 at Dharmasala. India will then face the winner of the Qualifier among Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland and Oman at Bengaluru on March 23 before facing the Australian Side on March 27 at Mohali.