ICC World T20: Tendulkar expects the tournament to be a grand success
The ICC World T20 to be held in India is just around the corner, and all the participating teams are giving the final touch to their preparations for the marquee tournament.
The ongoing Asia Cup in Bangladesh is being held in the T20 format for the first time for the same reason- to help the teams prepare well and get into the groove of the T20 format.
While India defeated Pakistan in a tense low-scoring affair in their Asia Cup game on Saturday, two of the previous T20I clashes between the arch-rivals found a place in the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar’s list of the top three performances from the ICC World T20, 2007.
Tendulkar picks his top three moments from the 2007 World T20
Tendulkar, who was talking to ICC 360 about the upcoming world event to be held in India, singled out the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007 as one of his favourite tournaments.
Recollecting performances from the tournament, he picked out three events that stood out for him from India’s victorious campaign. The events were Yuvraj Singh’s 6 sixes off a single over bowled by Stuart Broad against England, the bowl-out to decide India’s tied league game against Pakistan, and the final of the world event, in which India beat Pakistan yet again to clinch their maiden World T20 title.
“One favourite tournament, without a doubt, has to be the 2007 World Cup in South Africa. Nobody knew what to expect from the tournament,” said Tendulkar.
The master added, “Throughout the way, there were various challenges and the way Indian team fought those challenges, and overcame all the obstacles, was fantastic."
Talking about the final of the first T20 extravaganza, the world’s highest run scorer in Tests and ODIs said, “It was a closely fought match and eventually that beautiful trophy came back home.”
ICC World T20 2016 would be a grand success: Tendulkar
“T20 World Cup coming to India is a big thing. All the guys have been looking forward to it. There are going to be millions of eyeballs, not only in India but all across the world,” Tendulkar quipped.
“ICC T20 World Cup coming to India is going to push all the boundary lines, all the limitations. The entire nation is looking forward to it, and it’s going to be a grand success, without any doubt.”
He continued, “The kind of response you get from all parts in India when it comes to cricket, it’s simply fabulous. I’m sure with the experience that the players across the world have had playing IPL, it’s going to go a notch bigger than that.”
The tournament would be kicked off on March 15 when the hosts, India take on New Zealand at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur.
There would also be a qualifying stage, set to begin on March 8, featuring eight teams- Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, Oman, Afghanistan, and Scotland, to decide to the last two entrants to the Super 10 round, which already has the top eight T20 teams according to the ICC Rankings.