Former Australia pacer Brett Lee feels the Indian team should make in-form batter KL Rahul the center point of their batting unit as it will ease pressure on skipper Virat Kohli during this month's T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman.
Lee called the 2007 T20 World Cup winners India strong contenders to win the tournament that starts on Sunday. India will open their campaign on 24 October against Pakistan.
"England, they're always a big threat because of the squad they've got and the experience they have. But, for me, India are my favorite. You think about India dominating all formats but also because of the Indian Premier League, the young guys coming through, they've got some real good pace now as well and their top order can be unstoppable,” Lee told 'Foxsports.com.au.'
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KL Rahul ended the IPL 2021 with 626 runs with 295 runs coming in six outings in the UAE leg of the tournament for Punjab Kings. Lee picked the mercurial batter to become the leading run-scorer in the World Cup.
He said, "I've backed KL Rahul to get the most runs in the competition. I think KL Rahul coming off a great IPL, he's the pillar that the guys can build around him because it takes the pressure off Kohli if Rahul is scoring runs. It allows Kohli to just play his natural game. And obviously, with Kohli and the captaincy, it's probably his last crack at it so he'll want to go out on a high."
Brett Lee also said that Suryakumar Yadav is the next big thing in Indian cricket.
"You talk about highs, Suryakumar Yadav, he's just the next best thing for India. India would definitely be one of the top picks and could definitely win this thing,” Lee signed off.
India will play two warmup matches ahead of the tournament opener against Pakistan.
(PTI inputs)
