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Kohli-Rohit should open against Ireland: Gavaskar

June 04, 2024 12:29 IST

IMAGE: Sunil Gavaskar wants Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to open the batting for India in the opening match against Ireland. Photograph: BCCI

Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said Virat Kohli should open with skipper Rohit Sharma in India's T20 World Cup game against Ireland on Wednesday with Yashasvi Jaiswal dropping down to the No 3 position.

 

There has been a lot of debate around Kohli's batting position in the T20 World Cup.

Kohli has been India's designated number three batter in the white-ball format for a long time. He is coming into the World Cup back of an excellent season with the bat in IPL 2024.

"Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to open the batting along with Yashasvi Jaiswal at 3,' Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Opening for RCB, Kohli amaassed 741 runs in 15 matches at a strike rate of over 154, with a century and five fifties in IPL 2024.

Gavaskar picked the flamboyant Rishabh Pant ahead of Sanju Samson as the wicketkeeper and Mohammed Siraj ahead of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh as the second pacer.

"Suryakumar Yadav at four, Rishabh Pant at five. At number six, I would have Hardik Pandya, number seven would be Ravindra Jadeja, number eight, not necessarily in that batting order, Shivam Dube. Number nine Kuldeep Yadav, number 10 Jasprit Bumrah and number 11 will be Siraj," he said.

After the game against Ireland, India will take on Pakistan in New York on Sunday.

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