Adil Rashid insists England have 'mindset of champions' ahead of T20 World Cup crown

Adil Rashid is urging England's cricketers to put the misery of their 50 Over World Cup performance behind them as they look to defend their T20 crown.

Jos Buttler's side lifted the trophy in the shortest format of the game in Australia in 2022 after a nail-biting victory over Pakistan in the final at the MCG.

However, they have found things tricky since then, including a demoralising performance in India last autumn, when they were eliminated before the knock-out stages.

They were also beaten 3-2 by the West Indies in a five-match T20 series in December.

But Rashid, his country's leading wicket-taker in the format, insists there is no reason why they cannot find themselves on the winner's podium once again.

"We are not thinking of what has gone on in the past," he said. "We’re not thinking about the poor World Cup or people not being in form. That’s a completely different format.

"Yes, we had a poor run or whatever and we didn’t play well: bat, ball, as a team, as a unit, everything. But I think this is a completely different format where we’re currently world champions. You have the mindset of champions."

England are expected to name their provisional squad for the World Cup next week.

The tournament gets underway on June 2, when tournament co-hosts the United States face Canada at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.

The defending champions will play their first match two days later against Scotland.

Before then, they travel to Pakistan for four T20s, the first of which is on May 22.

They will have to make do without Ben Stokes for both that series and the World Cup, after the Test captain pulled out of the tournament to focus on red ball cricket.

But plenty of England players have displayed good form in the on-going IPL, including Buttler, who has blasted two centuries, while potential opening partner Phil Salt has also been in the runs.

And that gives Rashid the belief that they can put in a strong defence of their title.

"We’re confident," he continued. "We’ve got the team, we’ve got the mindset, we’ve got the players, we’ve got the experience.

"If we go out there having that same belief, I think we’ll hopefully go all the way. Prior to that we may not be playing well but as soon the tournament comes, people can turn up, teams can turn up and just switch on and win the World Cup.”

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