The All-India Senior Selection Committee chose the T20 World Cup roster on Monday. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel returned to the squad after recovering from their respective injuries. However, one of the big points of discussion is whether Virat Kohli should come out with Rohit Sharma to open during the marquee. Former India batter Rohan Gavaskar has backed Kohli to open with Suryakumar Yadav at number 3. However, he also said that KL Rahul would have to miss out on this one, and it would be tricky as he is an “absolute class act”.
“Look, in terms of having to open Virat, I think it’s a great option. Look at his T20 numbers, they are excellent. He has an average of about 55-57 and his pass rate is about 160. Those are phenomenal numbers. His final turns, again unbeaten turns of 122, tells you he’s probably enjoying opening as well. If the memory serves me well, he wanted to open or he said he wanted to open this edition or the last edition in the Indian T20 competition, he said this is the place I want to be. So it’s clearly something he wants to do. So it’s definitely a big option for the Indian team,” said Rohan Gavaskar on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.
“It opens up those options and you’re right, SKY being number 3 is a pleasant thought. But I have to say that when Virat opens, he showed what a huge success he is as an opener. It means one of my favorite players will have to give way and that’s KL Rahul. Because KL Rahul, I’ve said this before, he is an absolute class act. So look, it’s one of those tricky situations, but SKY at number 3, I think that’s what we want. You know his numbers and as rightly said, he is one of the best hitters in the T20,” he continued.
In the Asia Cup Super 4 match against Afghanistan, Virat Kohli registered his first T20I tonne and it was his 71st international century. It’s important to note that Kohli hadn’t scored a 100 in nearly three years before that.
“With all due respect, you’re talking to someone who’s never scored a hundred. You ask any cricketer, no matter what level you play, one hundred is one hundred. And this was an international hundred. Whether you score a hundred at the club level, or you score a hundred at the premier level, it doesn’t matter. One hundred is one hundred. And this was an international hundred at the end of the day. So I don’t commit to these theories of weakened opposition. No. It was an excellent hundred and it was. Forget the weakened opposition, it was an international hundred,” said Rohan Gavaskar.
“If you say lethal, he was back with the Virat we know. Back to the Virat, that 2016 Virat, an incredible point scoring machine he was in T20. So he seemed to be in that shape, which is great because he peaks at the right time. With the big one, the World Cup approaching, you want your players to peak at the right time and seem like he’s speaking at the right time,” he added.
promoted
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice Captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players -Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
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