Team India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma has revealed that he won’t mind opening with Virat Kohli in T20Is if the same augers well for the team. Incidentally, the two pillars of Indian cricket – Rohit and Kohli opened in the 5th T20I between India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad which laid the platform for the home side’s thrilling victory.
The host dropped to KL Rahul and moved Kohli at the top to bring in an additional bowler in the form of T Natarajan to strike a balance in the playing XI. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were an immediate hit at the top adding a 94-run stand setting up a platform from where the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya made a merry of the English bowlers to post 224 runs on the board.
The total proved to be enough for India to seal the series. At one stage it looked like England are in the game with Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan striking the ball well, but Indian bowlers bounced back well with four wickets in a span of just 20 deliveries to throw the visitors out of the competition. Ben Stokes tried to give one last try but it was already too late as they went down by 36 runs.
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Don’t mind opening with Virat Kohli – Rohit Sharma
Soon after the match, speculations have started that India might open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Responding to the same, Rohit said that they are ready to do everything which is in the best interest of the team.
“It was good for us to win the game with that batting order. Everything will depend on what the captain is thinking at that particular point in time. I am sure we need to sit and analyse and collect our thoughts on what would be the right thing for the team. If that means he has to open with me, so be it, if we feel that is right as a team we will go ahead with that,” Rohit Sharma was quoted as saying in a virtual press conference.
“We are not concerned with what is happening outside, the talks that are taking place outside, and what people are thinking about who should play and who shouldn’t, that doesn’t matter to us. Getting the right players as in somebody who is in good form, giving him an opportunity, those are the things that really matter, and we will be focussing on that, come the World Cup,” he added.