We are eager to do well in World T20: Dhoni

Colombo, Sep 12: India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Wednesday said it was important for the team to do well in the World Twenty20 tournament after the triumph in the World Cup last year.

"We are the world champions in the 50-over format and it is important for us to repeat the success in the shortest format of the game. We have to be at our best in this format considering you don't have time to recover as compared to Tests or ODIs," said Dhoni on his arrival here with the team.

Dhoni said the side's focus will be on adjusting to the T20 version before the event kicks off Sep 18. India will play warm-up matches against Sri Lanka (Sep 15) and Pakistan (Sep 17) before beginning their campaign against Afghanistan Sep 19 here.

"It is difficult to switch formats, especially from Tests to T20. The way you approach a game is different in all the three formats and you have to adjust. But it is not that you cannot do it, only thing is that your basics will have to be right.

"And as professional cricketers we have to do that and players like Virender Sehwag have been doing well in all three formats," he said a day after India suffered a one- run loss to New Zealand in Chennai.

Prior to that, India played two Tests against the Black Caps.

Asked about their opener with Afghanistan, Dhoni said: "We respect all our opponents and we cannot be complacent."

The wicket-keeper batsman felt the practice games will be enough for their preparations.

"We played a T20 match in Chennai and though we lost, it was a good experiment. We now have two warm up matches and that should be enough for our preparation," he added.