Winning T20 WC in Sri Lanka critical for team: Ashwin

Colombo: Sep 14 With less than a week to go for the ICC World T20, India off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today said that winning the coveted trophy after a gap of five years would be "critical" for the team after last year`s Test reverses in England and Australia.

"We won the 2007 World Cup and then this format has eluded us. We didn`t do well in the last two World Cups. Now to put in faith and win this World Cup is critical for the team, in the sense that we have done a good job but over the last one year we had tough time in Australia and England. To resurrect that and actually to do a good job here is important to everybody," Ashwin said. Ashwin, who will turn 26 on Monday, said that winning the tournament would be a long process. He added that the team is trying to acclimatise to the conditions and is focussed to draw maximum number of positives during its stay in the Island nation. India start their campaign against Afghanistan on September 19. "Winning this World Cup is a long process. It is a 20-day long tournament and it is going to be another five-six days before the tournament begins. We actually get in to the tournament with a couple of practice games and drawing as many positives as possible is very crucial for the team. "... So from there we will take it on. Definitely at the back of mind everybody knows that it is a very crucial tournament for us," he said. PTI