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Kohli the back-up opener, KL will partner me at World Cup: Rohit Sharma
India face a test in the three-match series against T20 world champions Australia, starting with the first game in Mohali on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli was the focus of everyone as he got down from the India team bus and walked into the IS Bindra PCA Stadium pavilion on Sunday. His calmness showed on the face. He surveyed the stadium hall with its portraits of cricketers and smiled. He played his 100th Test at the venue against Sri Lanka only a few months ago. More importantly, knocks of 59, 60 and 122 in the recent Asia Cup has boosted the former India skipper after a prolonged subdued run.
The way he batted in the nets preparing for the first T20I tie against Australia on Tuesday showed how eager Kohli is to maintain his fine form in the series as the team builds up for next month’s T20 World Cup in Australia. Aware of the depth in the bowling attack of the world champions, Kohli faced short balls, yorkers and bouncers. Batting coach Vikram Rathour, a former Punjab coach, would know the pitch conditions at Mohali well. Rathour was giving throw downs to Kolhi and having conversations. Kohli regaining form would be great news for coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma as well.
Addressing the media, the India skipper said Kohli is India’s third opening option.
“It is always nice to have options available. It is important that you have flexibility going into a World Cup. You want the players to be in the best shape batting at any position. Kohli was phenomenal in the tournament (Asia Cup). We understand the quality of all our players and what they bring for us. But yeah, it is an option (Kohli opening) for us, we will always keep that in mind. Since we have not taken a third opener, he also opens for his franchise in IPL and has done really well, so it is a definite option for us,” he said.
The Australia series will be followed by three games against the touring South Africa before India leave for the World Cup.
“Rahul bhai and I have had a chat that we will have to make Virat open in some of the games because he is our third opener. In the last match we saw what he did (as opener) and we are obviously happy about that.” Opening with KL Rahul, Kohli smashed 122 against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. It was Kohli’s first international hundred since November 2019. It has also led to some debate whether he should open more often.
Sharma though made it clear that Rahul will be his opening partner. “Rahul will open for us at the World Cup. We’re not going to experiment with that position a lot. His performances often go unnoticed. He is a very important player for India,” he said.
“If you look at his performances over the last two-three years, it has been very good. I want to make it clear to everyone that we have absolute clarity on this and kya khichdi pak rahi hain (what is cooking) we know very well. There is no confusion,” Sharma said in a lighter note.
India, as favourites, failed to reach the Asia Cup final, raising concerns about the team’s World Cup prospects after flopping in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Sharma was happy with the way India fared.
“If you see our Asia Cup performance as well, we posted par plus or par scores in every game except against Sri Lanka where we got 173 which was also a good score. In the Super 4s we had close games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka; it could have gone either way.”
Sharma gave the thumbs up to the aggression India batters showed. “This approach of ours has given us a lot of confidence that we can go out and play like that. It is a great sign. We will have another review meeting of the last 10 months after these six games and will see what we need to do in the World Cup,” he added.
With Mohammed Shami down with Covid, Prasidh Krishna injured and Mohammed Siraj playing County cricket in England, pacer Umesh Yadav has been brought back into the T20 team. He has not played a T20 international since facing Australia in February, 2019, though he impressed in the last IPL.
Sharma said Umesh’s was a simple selection considering his rich experience and ability to swing the ball in the powerplay and that his long absence from T20 won’t be a problem.
