Virat Kohli in action for RCB during IPL 2024© AFP
Indian cricket team star batter Virat Kohli has emerged as an unlikely option for opening the innings along with Rohit Sharma amid his fine run of form in IPL 2024. Kohli, who scored another half-century for Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the match against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, is currently the highest run-scorer in the competition and many experts including former India skipper Sourav Ganguly backed him to open the innings in the T20 World Cup 2024. However, legendary India batter Virender Sehwag believes that Virat should continue to bat at No. 3 and even mentioned Sachin Tendulkar‘s decision to demote himself to No. 4 during the 2007 World Cup to make his point.
“If I were in that team, I wouldn’t send him to open. I’ll play him at 3. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open, and Kohli will continue to bat at no.3. The middle-overs approach is his headache, he knows if there’s an early dismissal, he can take care of powerplays. If the wicket falls late, it’s the captain and the coach’s responsibility to tell him to keep the momentum intact. A player has to do this,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
“Sachin Tendulkar also left his opening role to bat at no.4, and carried the momentum in that role. He batted at no.4 in the 2007 World Cup. Even he didn’t like to bat in the middle-order, but he had to do that for the team. If your team has two good openers and you are asked to bat at 3, you have to do that. You have to carry the momentum that the openers have set. I don’t think Virat Kohli will be too bothered.”
Meanwhile, Kohli blasted his critics after his team’s victory over GT in IPL 2024.
“Not really, all the people who talk about strike-rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff. For me, it’s about winning the games for the team and there’s a reason why you’ve done it for 15 years, you’ve done this day in and day out, you’ve won games for your teams, I’m not quite sure that if you haven’t been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game from the box. For me, people can talk about their assumptions day in and day out, but those who have done day in and day out, they know what’s happening and it’s a kind of muscle memory for me now,” Kohli said.
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