Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has shockingly omitted Virat Kohli from his pick for India’s playing XI for their first match of T20 World Cup 2024 against Ireland in New York.

Hayden interestingly demoted Rohit Sharma, the India captain from his opening position and instead said that Virat Kohli should open with Yashasvi Jaiswal to keep the left-right combination. However, in doubling down on his previous remark, Hayden added a fresh twist saying that either Kohli opens in his playing XI for India or he does not make the team.

Kohli's amazing IPL 2024 season has raised the idea of India opening with Rohit and the former captain. The 35-year-old won the Orange Cap while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, scoring 741 runs in 15 innings.

Sticking to a left-right combination at the top of the batting order, the Aussie legend stressed that either Kohli opens for India or has no place in his team.

“You have to have a left-right combination. You can't have five right-handers in a row. Australia would just say hello to Zampa. Kohli has to open or he does not play in my team. He is in absolute red-hot form,” Hayden said on ESPNCricinfo.

“Rohit is a versatile player and does not shy away from batting away in that middle order. He has a successful record in T20I cricket batting at No. 4 and he can lead the batting group from the early middle order,” he added.

Rohit made 151 appearances for India and scored 3974 runs. In 27 of those games, he batted outside his normal opening position and scored 481 runs, including five fifties. Eight of those were at No. 4 for India, the last in 2022, and he scored 188 runs at a strike rate of 122.87, including two fifties.