Parthiv Patel suggest the opening pair for India in Asia Cup 2022: While the India side is spoilt for choices in the opening combination, former Indian wicketkeeper batter, Parthiv Patel reckons Virat Kohli should open the Indian innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
“My openers are Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” said Parthiv Patel in a Cricbuzz YouTube channel show.
Explaining the rationale behind his suggestion, Parthiv felt that Kohli would feel more comfortable while the score is 0/0 and it would give him the freedom to play according to himself and not get pressurised.
“I would want Virat Kohli to open and just go out and unleash yourself. You have taken a break and we know there is no shortage of ability in Kohli’s batting style. And as an opener, you start at 0/0. When you are batting at three, the game is not set up for you. You have to play according to the game situation. Here you start at 0/0 and create the game situation,” he added.
Kohli has all the weapons in his arsenal to score runs and play impactful knocks. The former Indian skipper is equally equipped to whack the opposition and score with a brisk pace, at the same time, rotate the strike and nudging singles and doubles.
“You have all the abilities. Kohli can play however he wants and still play at 170 strike rate. If two wickets have fallen early, he can still play at 130. The number of runs and hundreds he has scored is a testimony of the player himself,” the former India player added.
However, seeing the dynamics of the current Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2022, it would not be easy for Kohli to appear in the opening slot. KL Rahul is present in the squad and his place is already cemented to open with skipper Rohit Sharma.
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Virat Kohli would rediscover himself in Australia: Harshal Bhogle
Renowned commentator, Harsha Bhogle was also present in the discussion and felt that Virat Kohli would love to be challenged in Australia during the T20 World Cup. He loves to play the pace with minute swing and good bounce, Australia will be the place where Virat would rediscover himself, said Bhogle.
“He likes that pace and bounce and the aggressive environment around. Balls not stopping and coming, doesn’t swing very much and comes beautifully (to the bat), lovely bouncy wickets. He doesn’t mind pace so if there’s one place you tilt, you would say Virat Kohli would rediscover himself, it’s probably Australia,” Bhogle said.
The BCCI has announced India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2022. India will play its opening game against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022 on 28th August.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
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