Matthew Hayden (former Australian opener) strongly believes that the Indian squad should not go for the opening combination with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the T20 World Cup at West Indies and USA in June. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli showcased their best performance as openers in the T20 World Cup format for a consistent period of time. And lately, Virat Kohli has been in an astonishing form in the IPL 2024 and due to this many other suggests that Virat and Rohit should enter the pavilion as openers in the short format edition.
Matthew Hayden emphasizes on right hand-left hand combination for marquee tournament
Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden while talking on Star Sports, suggested that if India is thinking of sending Virat Kohli as opener, they must continue with the left-right synergy by having Yashasvi Jaiswal at the side. He said:
“You definitely need a left-right combination at the top. If you have to make a change in that combination (Rohit & Jaiswal), I would be very happy if you would tell me if I could open with Kohli and Jaiswal, I would have said absolutely yes.”
Thereafter, Hayden then urged that he would rather have Suryakumar Yadav at No. 3 and Rohit Sharma at No. 4, because the latter did this quite a lot in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians.
Matthew Hayden explains the reason for his Indian top-four
Matthew Hayden strongly believes that India may achieve the best results if they go with Kohli as an opener and later when the powerplay stage is over, the power of Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma would come in hand. To this he added:
“The reason I say that is Virat is a master of the first six. And once the power hitting comes into play, there are other great options including Rohit. Look at his figures at No. 4, they are superb. Those are better than his opening numbers,”
Rohit Sharma’s performance at No. 4 in the IPL is certainly impressive! With 2,392 runs in 86 innings at an average of 32.76 and a strike rate of 128.67, he’s been a consistent and impactful player for his team in that position. His ability to maintain a good average while also having a high strike rate demonstrates his effectiveness as a middle-order batsman in the IPL.
Also Read: IPL 2024: Aaron Finch Believes That Rohit Sharma Should Defend Hardik Pandya