Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were in brilliant form in the 2nd T20I, both passing the half-century mark in Ranchi to win the 2nd T20I and winning the 3 match series as well. Chasing a target of 154 in 20 overs, Rohit and Rahul made is look super easy from the way they were batting in the first powerplay.
India reached the target of 154 just in 17.2 overs, as this will be Rahul Dravid’s first series win as the Head coach of the team, and Rohit Sharma’s first series win after being named as the full-time T20I captain.
Name a batsman who hits pacers over covers better than KL Rahul. Unreal skills. #IndvNZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 19, 2021
Dinesh Karthik appreciated the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. However  Speaking on Cricbuzz, Karthik stated that the management needs to find a backup opener and also give him plenty of game-time. He said:
“In my mind, there is no doubt. What they need to find out is if one of them has an injury during the World Cup, then who is going to be the third opener? That’s it, I don’t think we need more than three openers in a squad. All they need to do is look at who is going to be the third opener”, said the wicketkeeper-batter.
Coming to the match, the newly appointed full-time captain Rohit Sharma played an innings of 55 runs off 36 deliveries before losing his wicket to Kiwis skipper Tim Southee. Meanwhile, Rahul scored 65 off 49 deliveries and was also dismissed by Southee.
“These two are sorted. There is no question.”
“They have been batting brilliantly for a period of time and both of them are top of the runs in the ICC T20 ratings as well. So I don’t see any reason why they should be disturbed. In fact, I feel one of them should be given a break for the next game”, he further added.
There are plenty of options – Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik further stated there are a plenty of options to turn to for the third opener’s role in Ishan Kishan, Shikhar Dhawan or Ruturaj Gaikwad.
“Are you going to go to a left-hander which could be Ishan Kishan or Shikhar Dhawan, or go to another right-hander, whoever is batting best. It could be Ruturaj Gaikwad, you have Venkatesh Iyer. There are many options when it comes to openers, there’s you know openers’ galore in Indian cricket and Indian Premier League actually”, he said.
There are a lot of options, so which way are you going to go?” Look at your third opener, who is it going to be, you know. Go march in that direction. Find out who your third opener is. Make sure he is comfortable up until the World Cup where at any given opportunity where one of them is not playing, give him the opportunity to play and stick with him. Give him a good run and make sure he does the best for Team India,” the 36-year-old concluded.
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