Virat Kohli as opener in T20 world cup? Harbhajan Singh says this
economictimes.indiatimes.comVirat Kohli should come in at the No. 3 position in the T20 World Cup, according to former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh. While talking to Star Sports, Harbhajan said that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma should open for India while Virat Kohli should come at no.3.
His statement came amid calls by many former cricketers to push Kohli to the opener position in the upcoming tournament.
Former seam-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan said on Friday that if Kohli opens the innings, India could have an advantage.
«If Virat opens the batting, it will allow the combination of eleven to be in a certain way, which you want. If that happens, you might see Shivam Dubey playing, if he's there in the squad. You might also see guys like Rinku Singh in the playing eleven. But if Virat bats at number three, that might not happen. So that's a big challenge,» Pathan reasoned.
Earlier, former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly also backed the idea of making Kohli the opener.
«Virat Kohli has the capability of scoring a 40-ball 100 also. As I said at the start, India, with the talent they have, just need to go and hit. The mindset should be to hit, and then we'll see what happens after 5-6 overs,» Ganguly told PTI during a select media interaction.
Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden also wants Kohli to bat as much as possible in the powerplay.
«By popular consensus of the panel, I've got Virat there. I've got to have him in the powerplay. If I'm going to pick him, he has to play in the powerplay.
»He has to play
