TIL Desk Sports/ Ahead of the T20I series against Australia, India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that talismanic batter Virat Kohli will be the third opener in the side. Rohit also hinted at Kohli opening the batting in a few matches as the hosts begin their final leg of preparations for the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia next month.
When India played in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, Ishan Kishan was the back-up opening option. But with him missing the bus for this year’s T20 World Cup, Kohli is now being seen as a third opener, especially after he hit an unbeaten 122 off just 61 balls, laced with 12 fours and six sixes, at a strike-rate of 200 against Afghanistan in India’s last Super Four match of Asia Cup 2022.
“I had a word with Rahul bhai (Dravid, head coach) that we might have to open with Virat in some matches as he’s our third opener. We have seen that in the last match (against Afghanistan) and we are happy with what we saw of it. I don’t think we are going to experiment a lot with that position,” said Rohit in the press conference.
