VVS Laxman, an Indian cricket commentator, believes that Rohit Sharma should open with KL Rahul.
With India’s home Test season now at an end, their focus turns to next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia. Virat Kohli is back for the three-match T20I series against the West Indies, starting December 06 in Hyderabad. Besides the three T20Is against defending World T20 Champions West Indies, India will host Sri Lanka in January for three T20s before flying to New Zealand for a tour there.
In total, that makes it 11 T20s before the Indian Premier League takes centre stage. However, one of the many problems that the team faces in the shortest format is deciding who to start together with Rohit Sharma: Shikhar Dhawan or KL Rahul. With KL Rahul boasting of a superior record than the southpaw coupled by his recent exploits, both in the third T20I vs Bangladesh (52) and the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Dhawan.
Dhawan’s injury made KL Rahul the obvious replacement. As VVS Laxman, a cricket commentator said that ‘The big question is that with Virat Kohli back and KL Rahul doing a good job batting at number three so then where will he fit? I believe that it is time that KL Rahul opens with Rohit Sharma. I would definitely have Rahul open with Rohit for the West Indies Series’.
Apart from Rahul, Laxman praised the current number four batsman - Shreyas Iyer. Ever since being given the opportunity to bat in the middle-order, Iyer has made the most of it.
‘I was very impressed with the way Shreyas Iyer has batted so far. The best part about him was when during the last T20 International in Nagpur when India lost their top 3 batsmen, he had the ability to assess the condition very well and was very versatile in his approach and when Rahul was the aggressor he played second fiddle and the moment Rahul got out and Rishabh Pant came to the crease under pressure and was not able to rotate the strike, Shreyas Iyer just registered that and changed his gear and that is what you want at a number four’, said Laxman.
The T20 is the shortest format in the sport of cricket. To find out more about the different formats of cricket, visit Betwala’s page.
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