Virat Kohli, in the game against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022, scored his 71st international century after a long wait. The batter got the chance to open the innings along with KL Rahul as captain Rohit Sharma decided to take a rest. The veteran cricketer received a lot of love and admiration from across the globe for his splendid knock.
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was also impressed with Virat’s innings. The former cricketer has opined that Virat can also open the innings for India at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. He stated that Kohli has grown to enjoy opening the batting for his Indian T20 League franchisee, Bangalore.
“He has opened his innings even in franchise cricket, even for RCB while he was captaining. When he opened the innings for RCB, he scored 921 runs in one season. So this role is not new to him, he sort of likes that spot,” Harbhajan Singh said while speaking to India Today.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are India’s regular openers in the T20I format. Bhajji stated that if India opens with Virat, they will have to figure out a way to keep all three batters in the playing XI.
Indian team needs to see what they need to do going forward: Harbhajan Singh
“Indian team needs to see what they need to do going forward whether they want to have a combo of Virat Kohli and Rohit starting the innings and KL bat at No. 3. The management needs to decide whether this can be plan B of plan A. For me, Virat is a top, top player, no doubt about it. So are KL Rahul and Rohit,” he added.
“Yeah, Virat opening would be a brilliant idea, going forward. But I am not sure if Rahul will stick with that,” he concluded.
Notably, in T20I cricket, Virat Kohli has opened nine times and scored 400 runs at a strike rate of over 140. Kohli has scored the majority of his runs at No. 3 (2623 in 67 matches) at a strike rate of 135.06.
