Virat Kohli will be making his return to the India T20I team after 14 months and this will bring a dilemma for the Indian team management. For personal reasons, Kohli was unavailable for the series opener against Afghanistan in Mohali.
Yashasvi Jaiswal opened with Rohit Sharma in the first T20I, while Shubman Gill batted at no.3 and Shivam Dube at no.4. But with Kohli returning to the playing XI, it remains to be seen where the senior batter plays in the Indian team.
"Virat Kohli’s contribution as an opener has been immense. Whenever he has played as an opener for India in T20 cricket, he has scored a lot of runs. He can set the tone of the innings. If he gets an opportunity to face those 120 balls, he can create that chance to get big runs," Parthiv told JioCinema ahead of the series decider in Indore.
Former India cricketer Saba Karim differed from Parthiv Patel and wants Kohli to bat at the No.3 position.
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"I am looking at Virat Kohli at No. 3, keeping in mind that the T20 World Cup is to be played in the West Indies and the USA. In the West Indies, India will be playing on slow wickets in the Super 8s. There you need someone who can control the entire innings. I think Rohit Sharma is backing Virat Kohli to play that role there," Karim added.
Former India batter Aakash Chopra, on the other hand, wanted Virat Kohli to open the innings with Rohit Sharma, now if the team is to follow this template at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Chopra said Kohli scores more freely in the powerplay overs as seen in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Kohli was the top run-scorer in the tournament with 765 runs with 3 centuries and 9 fifties to his name.
“If you see the entire World Cup, Virat Kohli has a playing style and he scores a lot of runs when he follows that template. Even in T20s, he rarely starts hitting fours and sixes from the first ball. He takes his time. If he has to run at a strike rate of 150, he does that in the powerplay,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
Furthermore, Chopra wants India to open with the two most experienced T20I players Rohit and Kohli opening the innings, and follow the template in the T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and the USA in June.
“In New York or the West Indies, the pitches will be such that there will be more chances of runs getting scored in the first six overs. So ideally you want Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be together from the start. If you have to follow that template, start it now,” Chopra added.
India leads the 3-T20I series 1-0 with a 6-wicket win in Mohali and a win in Indore will give India an unassailable lead.
