Former Indian wicket-keeper wants Virat Kohli to open alongside captain Rohit Sharma in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
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After the announcement of India’s T20 World Cup squad, experts around the world have started giving their predictions about the playing 11 of India. The most common asking has been the demand to open with Virat Kohli in the tournament after his recent heroics in the Asia Cup.
Kohli opened for India in the last Asia Cup 2022 game against Afghanistan, and he scored his much-awaited 71st international century. Last year, Virat said that he wants to open the innings for India in T20Is, and he has some great numbers opening the innings in T20s.
Parthiv Patel wants Virat Kohli to open in T20 World Cup
Former Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel has said that he was clear that Virat Kohli should open in the World Cup, and he wants the same to happen in the T20 World Cup as well. Patel believes that opening with Virat will give India the right balance going in the tournament.
“It’s very clear. If I was clear that Virat Kohli should be opening in Asia Cup, he should be opening in World Cup as well. It just gives the right balance,” Patel said in an interaction with Cricbuzz.
Thank you for all the love and support throughout the Asia Cup campaign. We will get better and come back stronger. Untill next time ❤️🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/yASQ5SbsHl
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 9, 2022
Patel insists that both Rohit Sharma and Kohli can complement each other as Rohit can be the aggressor, whereas Virat can find the gaps to score boundaries. He believes that if both of them play till the powerplay overs, India will definitely score more than 50 runs every time.
“They (Kohli and Rohit Sharma) are two different kind of players. One goes very aggressive (from the beginning), can hit boundaries, and there is Kohli who finds gaps and creates boundaries. If Rohit and Kohli can play till the first six overs I have no doubt that even in Australian conditions more often than not they will get India to around fifty,” Parthiv added.
Recently, former Indian batter Rohan Gavaskar also said that Virat should be opening alongside Rohit in the T20 World Cup with Suryakumar Yadav batting at number three.
