Asia Cup win will boost India: Raina

“We have never played the Asia Cup in T20 format. If we win the Asia Cup, we have a good chance to get to the top four in the ICC World T20,” Raina told reporters during the jersey launch of his IPL franchise, Gujarat Lions, on Saturday. 

Raina echoed limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s words, saying the team is currently on an ‘auto-pilot’ mode after winning successive series against Australia and Sri Lanka, and are all set to fire in the upcoming T20 tournaments. 

“Yes, definitely we had two good series against Australia and Sri Lanka, which has given the team good amount of practice for the Asia Cup and World T20. Playing matches are more important than just practice as it helps the players to feel the real situation and the pressure,” said Raina. Even after playing the Asia Cup, we got two warm-up matches against the West Indies and South Africa in Kolkata and Mumbai.