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When the ICC T20 World Cup is held in the West Indies
and the USA, veteran Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes that senior Indian
batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should bat first because the pitches there
will be better for scoring runs in the first six overs of the innings.
When India plays Afghanistan in the second Twenty20
International at Indore on Sunday, it will be the first time Rohit and Virat
have played together in a Twenty20 International since India’s devastating
defeat to England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. India is 1-0 up in the series.
Aakash claimed on his YouTube channel that Virat
follows his blueprint of dominating after a cautious start by taking his time
during his innings and scoring exceptionally well. However, he can score at a
high strike rate during the powerplay in Twenty20 Internationals. He said that
the Afghanistan series should be the first if the team management decides to
use them as openers.
“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,” said Aakash.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat opens the
innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and has enjoyed great success
with them. With a century and three fifties, Virat has amassed 400 runs at an
average of 57.14 in the nine games in which he has opened for India. In T20Is,
he had a strike rate of 161.29 as an opener, far higher than his career strike
rate of over 137.
“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,” he added.