Rahul Dravid opens up on India’s opening combination
While a majority of cricket pundits have opined that the Rohit-Kohli duo will be apt to go with, head coach Rahul Dravid denied opening the cards before the match day.
Rohit Sharma’s Team India is leaving no stone unturned in preparing for its T20 World Cup 2024 campaign opener against Ireland in New York. Thrashing Bangladesh in the warm-up fixture surely instilled the confidence to begin the voyage on a victorious note. However, the question still looms over the opening combination.
India have a couple of options, in Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal, to pick Rohit’s partner from. While a majority of cricket pundits have opined that the Rohit-Kohli duo will be apt to go with, head coach Rahul Dravid denied straightaway to open the cards before the match day.
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The former India skipper was asked about the opening pair for the Ireland clash on Wednesday but Dravid dodged the question smartly, saying that the selection will be done purely based on the conditions.
“We have got options. We are obviously not going to reveal our cards just yet. We have got Rohit and Jaiswal and Virat’s opening in the IPL as well. We’ve picked the team keeping in mind that we did have three options and we could pick and choose what we wanted depending on the conditions, depending on the kind of combination we go into these games with,” Dravid told reporters.
“We’ll see what it’s like, but it’s nice to have some real quality options at the top of the order,” Dravid added.
Rohit-Kohli still the experts’ favourite
While Jaiswal happens to be an exciting prospect to pair with Rohit in the showpiece event, the experts continue to vouch for Kohli’s promotion to the top of the order. The former captain is coming from a phenomenal IPL season in which he scored 741 runs as an opening batter and won the Orange Cap.
Former India batter Ambati Rayudu opined that Kohli should open the innings with Rohit while Suryakumar Yadav must bat at no. 3.
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Speaking with Star Sports, the former cricketer said Kohli can play the anchor role once he settles down.
“To talk seriously, I think he should open the innings because Surya will come in at three. I think the both of them along with Rohit should get the most number of balls in terms of batting,” Rayudu told Star Sports.
“Virat, especially when he settles down, opening the innings, can carry his bat through and play that anchor role because you don’t have an impact. You need somebody to play that anchor role. It can either be Rohit or Virat. So I think he should open,” he added.
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