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Indian men's T20I team captain Surya Kumar Yadav's childhood cricket coach, Ashok Aswalkar, expressed confidence about the Men in Blue winning the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal clash against England scheduled to be played at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. on Thursday.
Defending champions India comprehensively defeated West Indies by five wickets to reach the semi-final. Ashok Aswalkar told ANI, "I am hopeful of India winning, and we will win because the last match was against West Indies, and that was a huge match for us because it was a do-or-die match for us. Now that we have crossed that huge distance, I think it will be easy for us," Ashok Aswalkar said. Team India has yet to deliver a perfect performance with batting, bowling and fielding all firing in unison. However, Ashok Aswalkar pointed out that every player is mentally relieved after the team qualified for the Semi-Final. "Our batting line-up is very good. The only issue is with our bowling; we were bowling under some pressure, but now that pressure has also gone because we have qualified for the semifinal. So, now everyone is free from pressure, so everyone will do their best as per their own capacity," he said. He also left a peice of advice for the SuryaKumar who was seen struggling to score runs through the tournament, barring his unbeaten 84 against the USA. "I used to send him only one message, which was 'You play your game, focus on your game. Everything will be fine.' If you keep changing the game, nothing will happen. It is just that we have to see through the match, so we should start with a single or double. You have three or four players like Surya who score 12 runs even after playing 10-12 balls, and then they score 50 runs in 10 balls easily. So, they will have to take the innings forward, build it," Suryakumar's childhood coach said. Ashok Aswalkar also hailed Sanju Samson's match-winning knock against the West Indies, which set the Semi Final clash with England. "Sanju's batting was absolutely top class, so even before the World Cup started, I had said that Sanju will play in the World Cup team and will also score runs, and when he scored [in the match against West Indies], I was very happy," he said. (ANI)
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