In the just finished Asia Cup, Virat Kohli scored his first T20I century while opening for team India, sparking the discussion about who should open for India in the forthcoming T20 World Cup.
“We will keep in mind that since we haven’t taken a third opener, he (Kohli) can obviously open. He opens for his franchise and has done really well. It is a definite option for us,” said Rohit. “I have had a chat with Rahul [Dravid] bhai that we will have to open with Virat in some matches because he is our third opener. We saw that in the last match, and we are quite happy with what we saw. I don’t think we will experiment for that position a lot.
In the run-up to the T20I series against Australia, India captain Rohit Sharma declared that the team was clear on Kohli being the “third opener” and supported KL Rahul in the opening position.
“It’s always nice to have options available to you,” added Rohit. “It is very important when you go in a tournament like a World Cup. You want flexibility. We only talk about it, but this is actually what it means. You want your players to be in their best shape, batting in any position and so on. For us, when we try and do something new, it doesn’t mean that is permanent. We understand the quality of all the players and what they bring to us. We do understand that, but yeah it is an option for us.”
