Why did India opt for Virat Kohli to open and Rishabh Pant at No.3? Batting Coach reveals
Undeniably, cricket experts and pundits had already assessed the likely batting lineup for the ICC tournament ahead of India's T20 World Cup warm-up match against Bangladesh earlier this month. Notably, the Men in Blue had a plethora of options, with many choices available to them, as the players were in excellent form and had just finished the IPL campaign. However, the Indian team management gave the first hint as to who would probably open in that practice match against Bangladesh before making it official in their T20 World Cup opener on June 5 against Ireland.
Surprisingly, they opened with Virat Kohli while Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were expected to open, bringing him up from his regular No. 3 position in the batting line-up in hopes of best utilizing their power-hitting capabilities in the middle order and making way for more all-rounders. However, in a very surprising decision, Rishabh Pant took Virat Kohli's spot at number three.
Though Kohli had won the Orange Cap in the 2024 Indian Premier League by hammering 741 runs in the opening position, he did not often bat in the top order for the Indian team. Pant also did try his hand at starting in the lead-up to the 2022 T20 World Cup, scoring 71 runs in just five innings.
However, it clearly seems that Pant's move to the third spot put in place by head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma proved to be an excellent one, as the wicketkeeper-batter has amassed 96 runs in three innings so far, but Virat Kohli has had a horrendous start to the World Cup, where he managed just five runs in three innings, including a golden duck against the USA in the last game while the match against Canada was washed out due to rain.
We concluded that Virat’s best batting position would be to open: Vikram Rathour
Speaking about the same subject, India's batting coach Vikram Rathour has opened up about the change in Virat Kohli's and Rishabh's place in the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup.
“Our batting group has great versatility. After discussing with everyone, we concluded that Virat’s best batting position would be to open. He is great against fast bowlers and came out of an excellent IPL season. As a group, we wanted a left-hander at No. 3 because if an opposition side starts with a left-arm spinner, we would have an advantage, and in Rishabh Pant, we found a perfect player who could take up that role. He actually showed that in the last 2-3 matches,” Vikarm Rathour said on Star Sports.
India will take on Afghanistan next in their first Super 8 encounter on Wednesday.
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