No Virat Kohli At No. 3? Sunil Gavaskar's Big Surprise As He Picks India's XI At T20 World Cup

India legend Sunil Gavaskar feels Virat Kohli should open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma in India's T20 World Cup game against Ireland on Wednesday with Yashasvi Jaiswal dropping down to the number three position. There has been a lot of debate around Kohli's batting position in the T20 World Cup. Kohli has been India's designated number three batter in the white-ball format for a long time. He heads to the marquee event on the back of an excellent IPL season. "Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to open the batting along with Yashasvi Jaiswal at three," Gavaskar said on 'Star Sports while giving his preferred line-up for the game here.

#SunilGavaskar opts for experience with @imVkohli & @ImRo45 at the

A surprise inclusion at number 3, plenty of batting options and two pacers!

What changes would you make to this team?

| #INDvIRE | 5th June, 6 PM | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/6hQx6EJmhD

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 4, 2024

Opening for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kohli piled up 741 runs in 15 matches at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of over 154. He struck a century and five fifties during the prolific run.

Gavaskar picked the flamboyant Rishabh Pant ahead of Sanju Samson for wickeeping duties and Mohammed Siraj ahead of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh.

"Suryakumar Yadav at four, Rishabh Pant at five. At number six, I would have Hardik Pandya, number seven would be Ravindra Jadeja, number eight, not necessarily in that batting order, Shivam Dube. Number nine Kuldeep Yadav, number 10 Jasprit Bumrah and number 11 will be Siraj," he said.

After the game against Ireland, India will take on arch-foes Pakistan here on Sunday.

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Topics mentioned in this article

Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Yashasvi Jaiswal Rishabh Pant Shivam Dube India Cricket Team T20 World Cup 2024 Cricket