Kris Srikkanth believes India will win the 2016 World T20

Srikkant confident about India winning the big T20 tournament next year

Former Indian opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that the hosts, India will win World Twenty20 2016 as they have done well in the shorter format, reports TOI. He also commented that the tournament will be a big thing as it is in India.

The comments came in as a surprise as India have lost the recently concluded 3-match T20 series against South Africa by 2-0.

"T20 World Cup is going to be a huge thing in India. India have always done well in T20 format. I am sure India will do very well...probably who knows India will win the World Cup also in 2016," Srikkanth said.

India went on to lose the 5-match one-day international series after the T20 by 3-2, but they bounced back in the Tests where the lead the 4-match rubber by 1-0 with two more matches to go. The visitors’ tower was brought down in the Mohali Test by the comeback man, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

In the second Test, Bengaluru rain washes out the match after the non-stop four days showers. The game took place only on the first day where India bowled out the Proteas at a minor score and started strongly with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan’s batting.

Srikkanth added that India could have defeated the South African team in the second Test also as they were sitting on the driving seat after bowling them out.

"The first Test match (in Mohali) we beat South Africa very comfortably. And in the second Test match (in Bengaluru), unfortunately for rain.. otherwise I think we would have probably won the second Test match as well," he said.

He also commented on the confidence level in the Indian camp and said: "The confidence level of the Indian cricket team is always high and especially when they beat a team like South Africa so comfortably in the first Test match.

"They (Indians) were very comfortably positioned in the first day of the (second) Test match. Probably if there had been just three days of Test match we would have had a result favouring India. Unfortunately, I think the rains spoiled everything,"

The former opener said the current Indian Test team is well balanced with tremendous potential and can perform really good in the future.

"We have a lot of youngsters who are doing very well which is a great sign for Indian cricket. Definitely I find the Indian cricket going in the right direction," Srikkanth concluded.

Srikkanth was known for his batting style as he was entertaining, innovative and explosive. He scored runs at an average of around 30 and was the part of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team.