File photo of Matthew Hayden© Twitter
The countdown for the 2022 T20 World Cup has begun. All teams have named their respective squads and the final preparation phase has already started. The Indian cricket team had a hiccup in the preparation phase for the big event when it bowed out of the Asian Cup without qualifying for the final. However, a big positive for the Rohit Sharma-led side was that Virat Kohli ended his 1020-day drought. The former India captain scored 122* against Afghanistan as he led off the batter in a Super 4 game. Those innings have left many wondering if the superstar should stay in that position.
However, former Australian cricket team opener Matthew Hayden shut down any discussion of Kohli’s position in the Indian T20I team.
“And this great debate about hitting Virat, GG (Gambhir) and I have been having this for the past few days, there’s no way he has to open the blow, he has to hit the number 3, it’s that simple. And again , it’s another thing that you don’t want to open up the discussion about this,” Hayden said at a virtual press conference hosted by Star Sports.
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“You don’t want to hesitate, you don’t want KL Rahul to have the masterful form he’s been in lately and Rohit Sharma, the captain of the team, who thinks ‘I need to be a little bit out of place here that you know I am an opening batsman and it’s my job to play with freedom” and sadly when you start having these debates and you start thinking ‘oh maybe for his game he should open it’ I’m sure he wouldn’t want to entertain and pressure that. The only thing you want to relieve during the World Cup is the pressure. Just let the batting order rely on its own form and Virat Kohli can handle the situation. He’s a world class player, he can hit three and in my opinion he should hit three.”
India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign with a game against Pakistan on October 23.
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