From the second T20I onwards, India’s all-format players like Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah will be available for selection. The availability of these players will give team management a sort of headache to choose the best XI for the upcoming matches, as in the absence of these, the ones that played in the first game impressed with their show and it will be a harsh call to drop anyone out. But, having said that, a few tough calls will be made by the management and the likes of Virat, Pant and Jadeja are sure-shot starters in the next game.
But according to former English spinner Graeme Swann, if Virat Kohli returns to the playing XI, then he should open the innings with Rohit Sharma in place of Ishan Kishan and allow in-form Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav to bat at their number three and four positions.
“As I see it here, I see it fairly obviously, if Virat Kohli comes in, he opens the batting instead of Kishan. That’s what I would do, but I have got nothing to do with the Indian selections,” Swann said in a discussion with Sony Spor
He explained the reason why he wants Virat to open and said, “When you have got a player as good as Virat, you don’t want him batting at No. 3 in the middle overs because he is not going to score as quickly as SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) or Hooda when they first come in, that’s not his game.”
Swann added that Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav could prove even more dangerous in the middle order if Kohli and Rohit stitch together a substantial partnership. “If Rohit is batting so well at the other end and scoring quickly, Virat will follow and do the same thing. Imagine Kohli and Sharma scoring heavily at the top, then Hooda and SKY coming in.”
Virat last opened for India in the fifth T20I of a five-match series against England in Ahmedabad last year, going unbeaten on 80 runs from 52 balls. In that game, he added 94 runs with Rohit in nine overs for the first wicket. And India went on to post a total of 224 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets in 20 overs.
