Virender Sehwag didn’t mince his words as he spoke about Virat Kohli’s potential role at the T20 World Cup.
The T20 World Cup squad is set to be announced on Monday, and the speculations are rife over who could potentially make it to the 15-member touring party to the Americas. One name, however, which is reportedly certain to get on the place to the USA is India’s star batter, Virat Kohli. The 35-year-old, who is currently playing for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League, holds the Orange Cap in the season so far and will likely be among the first names in the starting XI when India takes on Ireland in the opening game of the T20 World Cup on June 5.
India’s Virat Kohli with former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar during the 2023 World Cup(REUTERS)
Many, including former India captain Sourav Ganguly, believe that Virat Kohli should be opening the Indian batting alongside captain Rohit Sharma at the marquee global tournament. However, Virender Sehwag, who has shared the dressing room with Kohli during the latter’s early days in international cricket, disagrees.
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According to Sehwag, Kohli should continue to bat at No.3 and further provided an example of India’s batting great, Sachin Tendulkar, insisting that the former batter also had to sacrifice his opening spot unwillingly but gave his best effort in ODIs.
“If I were in that team, I wouldn’t send him to open. I’ll play him at 3. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open, and Kohli will continue to bat at no.3. The middle-overs approach is his headache, he knows if there’s an early dismissal, he can take care of powerplays. If the wicket falls late, it’s the captain and the coach’s responsibility to tell him to keep the momentum intact. A player has to do this,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“Sachin Tendulkar also left his opening role to bat at no.4, and carried the momentum in that role. He batted at no.4 in the 2007 World Cup. Even he didn’t like to bat in the middle-order, but he had to do that for the team. If your team has two good openers and you are asked to bat at 3, you have to do that. You have to carry the momentum that the openers have set. I don’t think Virat Kohli will be too bothered.”
Kohli at RCB so far
Kohli opens the innings for the RCB and currently has 430 runs to his name in nine innings, scoring a century and three half-centuries. The Indian batter has a strike rate of 145.76, which – given the explosive batting rate this season – came under the scanner. In his previous innings, Kohli took 43 innings for his 51, slowing down considerably after the powerplay.
