Aakash Chopra reckoned that India has decided to open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the ICC T20 World Cup. The Blue squad will begin their T20 World Cup campaign in New York opposing Ireland on June 5, Wednesday. India won against Bangladesh by 60 runs in New York on Saturday 1 June in their one and only warm-up match before the start of the global event. Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal were not part of the warm-up match. Sanju Samson opened the innings with the skipper.
Virat Kohli all set to open with Rohit Sharma- Aakash Chopra
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra mentioned that Virat will open with Rohit Sharma following the ICC T20 World Cup.
“It seems like the team have made up their mind that Virat Kohli will open with Rohit Sharma. Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn’t played in the warm-up game. In any case, Yashasvi hasn’t taken such form from the IPL where you would say that he definitely deserves to play,” Chopra said.
The former Indian opener observed that Jaiswal’s form was already a matter of concern and the southpaw not participating in the preliminary game eventually ruled him out of the picture.
“So there was already a slight question mark on his name and now that he has not been played, it means that they have made up their mind that Yashasvi is not playing. A right-left combination is not going to be there,” Chopra noted.
Jaiswal registered 435 runs in the IPL 2024 at an average of slightly below 31.07 in 15 innings but that could not be considered as his best.
“I am quite confident of that because the team wants something else” – Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma opening
Aakash Chopra reckoned that with Virat Kohli opening alongside Rohit Sharma, India will be able to pair up Dube and Hardik in the playing XI.
“You will see Rohit and Kohli opening on the 5th vs Ireland. I am quite confident of that because the team wants something else. If Yashasvi opens, Dube and Hardik cannot play together and there could be a slight problem that who would finish. So the first takeaway was Rohit and Kohli to open, which, in my opinion, is a good thing,” he mentioned.
The former opener opined that the experienced duo might be the best counter for the moving ball in a seam-friendly pitch.
“It seems like the new ball was moving decently here because a lot of grass is left at the start on drop-in pitches. So when you have Mark Adair and Joshua Little, their fast bowling is decent if the conditions are favorable to them, you will need slightly technically correct and compact batting at the start. So Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli might be opening,” Chopra explained.
Shoriful Islam gave a hard time to most of the Indian batters and took out Sanju Samson. Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj took 3 Bangladesh wickets in the first four overs.