MS Dhoni counts on IPL experience despite lack of T20 Internationals

India might not have played any T20 International in the last five months but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said that the IPL experience would help the team do well in the Twenty20 World Cup beginning at Mirpur on Sunday.

India last played a Twenty-20 International in October in Rajkot against Australia while most of the countries competing in the World Cup here have played T20Is in the recent months.

"We have played a lot of Twenty20 matches. You may say they were not T20 Internationals. All the players in the team have played a lot of T20 matches in the IPL," Dhoni, who left the Indian shores without holding the customary pre-departure media interaction, said at the pre-tournament press conference.

"The conditions in Bangladesh are similar to those in India and so the IPL experience will help us," he said.
Dhoni said the the two warm-up games -- against Sri Lanka on March 17 and against England on March 19 -- will also give his side an opportunity to try out various combinations.

"We will be playing two warm-up matches also and we will try out all the players in the squad for various combinations.
All the players will get a chance and we will get the opportunity to know what is the best for the team," he said.

He said each match of the T20 World Cup will be important and his players will have to be on their toes throughout the tournament.

"In the last T20 World Cup, we lost just one match but still we were out of the tournament. So every match is important and we have to be at our best throughout," he added.
Former champions India will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on March 21 at Mirpur in a Super 10 game and then take on the West Indies on March 23 at the same venue.