Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra wants Virat Kohli to start opening for India from the second T20I onwards against Afghanistan in Indore on Sunday, January 14. However, Kohli missed the first T20I in Mohali for personal reasons. And, he has joined the Indian camp and he is expected to be a part of the playing XI in the second game as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “If you see the entire World Cup, Virat Kohli has a playing style and he scores a lot of runs when he follows that template. Even in T20s, he rarely starts hitting fours and sixes from the first ball. He takes his time. If he has to run at a strike rate of 150, he does that in the powerplay.”
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The former India opener further added: “In New York or the West Indies, the pitches will be such that there will be more chances of runs getting scored in the first six overs. So ideally you want Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be together from the start. If you have to follow that template, start it now.”
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Kohli is technically compact and he doesn’t need to play more aggressive cricket to score quickly in the powerplay. He also added that Kohli doesn’t have any ego issues and won’t try to match Rohit’s strokeplay as well. Aakash Chopra feels India should open with Virat Kohli ahead of Shubman Gill as well.
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“You are talking about keeping Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shubman Gill. You wanted to play Gill at No. 3. He opened in the last match because Yashasvi wasn’t there, but that’s neither your long-term plan nor you have thought anything about it. You already said that Yashasvi is your first opener alongside Rohit and not Gill,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “So if Yashasvi is available, you will get him to open. However, if you get Yashasvi to open, my problem is not only about Kohli at No. 3. I don’t want to keep Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4. I want him at No. 3. Suryakumar Yadav is India’s No. 1 T20 batter. So I want him at No. 3 and I want to give him time to drive the game.”
