"Something He Wants To Do": Rohan Gavaskar On Virat Kohli's Batting Position In T20 World Cup
In the Asia Cup Super 4 match against Afghanistan, Virat Kohli registered his first T20I ton and it was his 71st international century
The All-India Senior-Selection Committee picked the T20 World Cup squad on Monday. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel made their way back into the squad after recovering from their respective injuries. However, one of the big talking points is whether Virat Kohli should come out to open alongside Rohit Sharma in the marquee event. Former India batter Rohan Gavaskar has backed Kohli to open with Suryakumar Yadav batting at No.3. However, he also said that with this, KL Rahul would have to miss out, and it would be tricky as he is an "absolute class act".
“Look, in terms of should Virat be opening, I think it's a great option. You look at his T20 numbers, they are outstanding. He averages about 55-57 and his strike rate is about 160. Those are phenomenal numbers. His last innings, again unbeaten innings of 122, tells you that he probably relishes opening as well. If memory serves me right, he wanted to open or he said he wanted to open in the Indian T20 league in this edition or the last edition, he said that's the spot I want to be. So, it's obviously something that he wants to do. So, it's definitely a big option for the Indian team," said Rohan Gavaskar on SPORTS18's daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP'
“It does open up those options and you're right, SKY batting at number 3 it's a pleasing thought. But I have to say if Virat opens, he showed what a tremendous success he is as an opener. It means one of my favourite players will have to make way which is KL Rahul. Because KL Rahul, I've said this before, he's an absolute class act. So look, it's one of those tricky sort of situations but SKY at number 3, I think that's what we want. His numbers you know and as rightly said, he's one of the best batters in T20," he stated further.
In the Asia Cup Super 4 match against Afghanistan, Virat Kohli registered his first T20I ton and it was his 71st international century. It is important to note that before this, Kohli had not scored a 100 for almost three years.
“With all due respect, you're talking to someone who has never scored a hundred. You ask any cricketer, doesn't matter what level you play on, a hundred is a hundred. And this was an international hundred. Whether you score a hundred at a club level, whether you score a hundred at first-class level, it doesn't matter. A hundred is a hundred. And this, at the end of the day, was an international hundred. So, I don't bind to these theories of a weakened opposition. No. It was an excellent hundred and that's what it was. Forget about the weakened opposition, it was an international hundred," said Rohan Gavaskar.
“When you say lethal, he was back to the Virat that we know. Back to the Virat, that 2016 Virat, an unbelievable run-scoring machine that he was in T20. So, he looked to be in that kind of form, which is great because he's peaking at the right time. With the big one, the world cup coming up, what you want is your players to peak at the right time and seems like he's speaking at the right time," he added.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players -Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
India Cricket Team
Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma