Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma. (Twitter/BCCI)Rohit Sharma, ahead of the T20I series against Australia, has made it clear that Virat Kohli will be India’s third opener in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
“It is always nice to have options available for you, especially if you are going into a tournament such as T20 World Cup, you want that flexibility. It’s an option for us, and since we have not taken the third opener, he can obviously open,” Rohit told reporters in Mohali.
Captain @ImRo45 addressing the press conference ahead of #INDvAUS series. pic.twitter.com/0i8tmstoUf
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“He opens for his franchise, and he has done really well. It’s a definite option for us. ”
Virat Kohli, while opening for India, has recorded his first international hundred in nearly three years against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. He was also the highest run-getter for India.
“I had a word with Rahul Dravid and we have decided that we might have to open with Virat in few matches. We have seen that in the last match and we are happy,” said Rohit.
Although Rohit maintained that Virat is a definite option, but KL Rahul is going to open for India.
“I don’t think we are going to experiment. KL Rahul is going to be our opener for sure. His performance for India has always gone unnoticed. One or two bad game doesn’t overshadow his past records. We know what KL brings to the table, his presence at the top is very crucial for us,” he said.
Australia pace spearhead Pat Cummins too had spoken about Virat Kohli’s return to form and said the star Indian batter would pose a challenge in the series.
“I saw Virat Kohli, he scored a hundred, yeah he’s a class player, he was always going to return to form at some point in time. He’s going to be a challenge this next week,” Cummins said.
The Indian team will be playing its first T20 against Australia on September 20 in Mohali, followed by second and third T20 in Nagpur and Hyderabad on September 23 and September 25.
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