Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra had all sorts of praises for the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli after his masterful knock of unbeaten 77 in the 3rd T20I against England but pointed out that the in-form India captain should be batting at No. 3 in the shortest format of the game. Despite Kohli playing a whirlwind knock in just 46 balls, India suffered an 8-wicket defeat to England in the 3rd T20I as the visitors took a 2-1 lead in the ongoing 5-match series on Tuesday.

Virat Kohli was the lone warrior for the hosts as their top-order succumbed against the extra pace of England. India was reeling at to 24 for 3 at the end of the powerplay but Kohli’s rescue act steered them to 156. In the end, it did not prove enough as Jos Buttler came out all guns blazing and played a blistering 83 not out to help England gun down the total in just 18.2 overs.

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However, Kohli had to drop himself to No. 4 after Rohit Sharma returned to the playing XI. Ishan Kishan, who hit a match-winning 56 on his T20I debut while opening the innings, dropped to No.3 as the team management backed KL Rahul to open the innings despite his poor run of scores.

Talking about the change in batting-order, Aakash Chopra said, “That was a masterclass and that’s what you expect from Virat Kohli. I think the first 20-25 oddballs, he had scored 20 odd runs, less than a run-a-ball because wickets were falling at the other end. But when he wants to up the ante, he can, because he has got all the shots in the book. He was at his dominating best. And you know what is good with Virat kohli is that if he gets one big score, he will follow it up with another.”

He further added, “But there is one issue, if you are the captain and you’re in that kind of form, the best position for you is that No. 3. Why are you batting at No. 4? You have got Ishan Kishan right at the top opening in one game and No. 3 in the next game, Virat Kohli had to go down to No. 4 which is not ideal.”

Aakash Chopra also said there is a lot of “up and down” in the India batting order as he pointed that in-form Shreyas Iyer, who hit a fifty in the first T20i, was batting at No. 6 while big-hitting Hardik Pandya came in at No. 7.

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Chopra concluded, “Virat is showing it (how to deal with pace and bounce). He showed it the other day. But there is too much up and down with regards to the batting order. Shreyas, the man in form, was batting at 4 or 5, the other night, he was down to No. 6. Hardik is batting at No. 7, which is too low. These are concerns but they have to figure out something.”