Former Indian all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi feels the team management might tilt towards favoring Virat Kohli as an opening partner for skipper Rohit Sharma in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022, which will kick off in Australia in October.
Kohli recently opened the innings with KL Rahul in the team’s final match of the Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan and scored a scintillating knock of 122 runs. This was Kohli’s maiden International hundred after 1020 days and he finally got the monkey off his back.
Kohli opened the innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2016, scoring 973 runs, including four centuries. Furthermore, Kohli has scored 400 runs in nine innings while opening for the national team at an average of 57.14 in the game’s shortest format.
On the other hand, KL Rahul hasn’t been able to hit the ground running since returning to the International circuit after a long layoff due to injury. However, Rahul had scored a decent knock of 61 runs off just 42 balls against Afghanistan.
Reetinder Singh Sodhi said while talking to India News Sports, “Once Virat gets set, there will be no issues with the strike rate. So it is ideal for him to open the innings. He also has the ability to hit good balls for boundaries which is very crucial as an opener when it comes to facing quality bowling attacks. So after this performance, the selectors and team management might tilt towards favoring Virat Kohli for the opening position alongside Rohit Sharma.”
On the other hand, former Indian selector Saba Karim feels the number three position is ideal for Virat Kohli and he should only bat at his recognized place.
“Opening is definitely an option, but I still feel that best position for Virat Kohli is at No. 3. He has batted there for years and has also delivered some great performances. I also feel that in Australia, when you’re facing bigger teams, if you lose a couple of early wickets, you will look at Kohli to provide you stability and take India out of that tough situation.”
The former Indian wicket-keeper concluded by saying that it would be up to Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav to hold the team’s middle order.
“Opening in T20Is is a bit easier than batting in the middle-order. So you need versatile players like Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav in the middle-order who can adapt according to the situation. You need your most experienced players to bat in tougher situations.”
India will now take on Australia in the first T20I in Mohali.
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