The 1020-day wait was finally over as one of India’s most beloved cricketers Virat Kohli broke the century jinx.
He opened the innings with interim skipper KL Rahul on Wednesday, September 8, and hammered 122* off 61 balls against Afghanistan in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
After this knock, there were talks of whether Virat should open in T20Is in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. However, senior India batter Cheteshwar Pujara believes that Kohli should continue batting at number 3 where he has had so much success over the years.
“I think he is better off at No.3. He has proved that. KL and Rohit I think they make a good pair as an opening partner. So, I think Virat should continue batting at No. 3 and that he has scored a lot of runs at No.3 so there's no question about that,” said Pujara in a show with ESPNcricinfo.
Veteran India batter Robin Uthappa too weighed in on the debate and had the same opinion as that of Pujara. He added further that Kohli is the ‘master’ at the number 3 position.
“He's a master at that position so I think this game was a lot more about confidence than about whether he will open the batting or should he open the batting. So I think that we should just stop that whole conversation of him opening the batting or not. He should be at No. 3,” said Uthappa in the same show.
Kohli has amassed 400 runs in 9 innings while batting at the top of the order, and in 67 innings while batting at number 3, he has 2623 runs to his name.
The CSK star continued by saying that Virat and Rohit’s resurgence and Suryakumar Yadav’s sublime form augurs well for the Men in Blue going into the World Cup.
“It will bode so well for us just to have Rahul back in form, Rohit striking the way he’s striking, Virat is batting the way he’s batting, Surya batting the way he’s batting. So it bodes for a really dangerous top order right and you want that for India going into a World Cup,” he remarked.
India was knocked out of the Asia Cup 2022 before reaching the finals as a result of two consecutive losses in the Super-4 stage.
(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)
