Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel has an interesting take on India’s constant experiments with the batting order. He expressed that the changes are happening as India wants to fit Virat Kohli in the playing XI. Virat has not been in the best of forms for the last couple of years. His form has raised a lot of questions regarding his place in the Indian team.
The veteran batter is currently on a break and is likely to make a comeback for the Zimbabwe tour. Off late, India has tried to shuffle their batting order. Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant opened the innings in a few matches, while Suryakumar Yadav came out to open the innings on Friday, during the first T20I against West Indies.
Speaking about the constant changes in the batting order, Parthiv opined that India is experimenting as they are trying to find a place for Virat Kohli in the team. He expressed that he would have loved to see Virat Kohli playing in the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies to get back in form. Parthiv said to Cricbuzz,
“Whatever changes we are seeing are happening because India wants to fit Virat Kohli in the XI.”
“I would have liked Virat Kohli to play the one-day series. It’s an easier option to come back into form. There are 50 overs and a lot of time, where you can get your 70-80 runs like Shikhar Dhawan or Shubman Gill did, at a run-a-ball,” he added.
We might see Suryakumar opening in the entire series: Parthiv Patel
Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel further pointed out Rohit Sharma’s quote from the press conference. The Indian skipper expressed that there are still issues that the Indian team needs to address before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Parthiv feels that India might open the batting with Suryakumar Yadav in the entire T20I series against West Indies. He said,
“Rohit Sharma said in the pre-match conference, ‘we know there are holes to fill, and that is the reason why we are going to try different things’. They did that with Rishabh Pant, giving him a full series in England. Now, we might see Suryakumar opening in the entire series. We might see Ravindra Jadeja bowling in the powerplay, just to see what he can produce.”
Team India defended 190 runs in the first T20I on Friday. They are leading the five-match T20I series 1-0 after a convincing 68 runs win in the first game. The second T20I will take place on Monday, August 1 at Warner Park in St Kitts.
