With the return of Virat Kohli in the T20 squad to take on Afghanistan at home, many questions remain regarding whether the batter would be seen opening the batting where he has seen success recently in the IPL 2023, or would he be back in number three. This would be the first time we see Kohli back in blue after the World Cup 2023 finals loss against Australia.
Former Indian cricketer and now pundit, Aakash Chopra shared his opinions on where he thinks the experienced Virat Kohli would best fit in the Indian batting order. He spoke to JioCinema where he said,” In my opinion, Kohli is at his best in T20s when he opens the innings and bats in the powerplay overs.”
Virat Kohli was the opener for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous season where he managed to finish the season with 639 runs making him the fourth highest run-scorer of the season. However, Chopra also mentioned the drawbacks of putting him in a non-opening role.
READ MORE: IND vs AFG: Virat Kohli to Miss 1st T20I Due to Personal Reasons, Confirms Coach Dravid
He said,” If you don’t give him that option then he becomes a little slow against spinners, then it wouldn’t be surprising. That’s because it has happened regularly.”
Chopra also mentioned that he does not believe that Kohli would be opening for the Indian side and the role would most likely be given to someone like Shubman Gill or Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The former Indian cricketer added,” So, will Kohli open? I don’t think so. I feel one of either Yashasvi (Jaiswal) or (Shubman) Gill will play. Gill is a senior player so he may play and Yashasvi will have to sit out. It won’t be fair, but that can happen. I see Kohli batting at No. 3.”
READ MORE: ‘We’ll be Opening with Rohit and Jaiswal’: Dravid on India’s ‘Best Chance to Succeed’ vs Afghanistan
Virat Kohli will miss out on the first T20I against Afghanistan but will return for the remaining fixtures. The last time Kohli featured in the T20I game was back in 2022 in the T20 World Cup against England, making it over a year since he last featured in the shortest format.
The Indian side will look to gain clarity on their combinations for the shortest format as the series against Afghanistan is the final set of T20Is the Indian team will be playing which is followed by the England Test series and then the IPL. After that, the T20 World Cup takes place where India will come in as favourites and look to challenge for the title.
India’s Squad vs Afghanistan: Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
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