Hayden’s straightforward opinion on the “big discussion” over Kohli’s batting spot: “You don’t want to let the door open…”
Hayden’s straightforward opinion on the “big discussion” over Kohli’s batting spot: “You don’t want to let the door open…” Virat Kohli lost his form for a while, but he found it again at the Asia Cup 2022. He achieved an international century he has been waiting for since November 2019. His 100+ runs against Afghanistan were his first in the 20-over format.
Kohli’s returned to form while opening the innings. This raised the question of whether he should be chosen over KL Rahul. Rahul had a bad tournament, scoring only 132 runs in five innings. Rahul’s form is a big worry for the team. This is because the World T20 is coming up in less than a month. However, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has supported the idea of Rahul as an opener. This is because he thinks “world-class” Kohli can do well at the No. 3 spot.
Here’s what Matthew Hayden said!
“Virat, you know, he’s such a great player of fast bowling, and Australia’s full of fast bowling in their cricket team and they are relying heavily on Adam Zampa through the middle stages now. Pointers to take pace off the ball, Mitch Marsh as well, he’ll handle him nicely,” the 50-year-old said in a Star Sports press conference.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir also said that Rahul should keep opening the innings. However, he said that the batter should be allowed to play freely. He also added that “insecurity” should not affect an out-of-form player.
“And this great debate around Virat batting up, GG (Gambhir) and I have already had this over the last couple of days, there’s no way that he has to open the batting, he has to bat at number 3, simple as that. And again, it’s another one of those things that you don’t want to let the door open the discussion on this,” said Hayden.
“Virat Kohli can handle the situation”: Hayden.
“You don’t want to have a doubt, you don’t want to have K.L Rahul in the masterful form that he’s been in of late and Rohit Sharma who is captain of the team thinking ‘I’ve got to kind of watch my spot here that you know I’m an opening batsman and my job is to play with freedom’ and unfortunately, when you start having these debates and you start thinking ‘oh maybe he, for his game, it should be him opening’, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to entertain that and put pressure.”
“The one thing that you want to alleviate in the World Cup is the pressure. Just let the batting order rely on its own form and Virat Kohli can handle the situation. He’s a world-class player, he can bat at three and he should bat at three in my opinion,” he added.
Rohit’s Take
Rohit Sharma also said that Kohli might need to bat first in some games. But Rahul will bat first at the T20 World Cup next month. Rohit told the media that Rahul is an integral part of the current Indian team.
“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,” Rohit said, referring to Kohli’s hundred against Afghanistan.“K L Rahul will open for us at the T20 World Cup. We are not going to experiment with that position a lot. His performances often go noticed. He is a very important player for India,” he added.
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