The debate was happening earlier also, the debate is happening even now and it will continue for the next 2 months also, but at the moment it has been decided which 15 players will represent Team India in the T20 World Cup 2024. On Tuesday 30 April, the selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the squad under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. This includes some players for whom opinions are divided regarding their selection, while some players did not get a chance, for whom everyone was in favor. Now the selection has been done, everyone is looking for the answer to one important question – who will do the opening?
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav have been selected as top order batsmen in Team India’s squad. Out of these also there are 3 contenders for opening. Not even three but two, because captain Rohit will definitely open. The question is whether Yashasvi Jaiswal will be fielded as the second opener or Virat Kohli? At first sight it seems that Jaiswal should be the second opener but this answer is not so easy.
Who will be the opener with Rohit?
In IPL 2024, Virat Kohli is opening for his team Royal Challengers Bangalore and Yashasvi Jaiswal for his team Rajasthan Royals. Virat has scored runs continuously whereas Yashasvi has not played any major innings except one century. Despite this, this decision is not going to be easy. Till the last T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli batted continuously at number three for Team India, while Rohit was sometimes accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan, sometimes KL Rahul and sometimes Shubman Gill or Ishan Kishan. But this has not proved beneficial for India, especially in the situation of batting first.
Why is this question important?
Actually the issue is that if Virat Kohli bats at number three then he will have to spend most of the time in the middle overs outside the powerplay. This is the time when spinners dominate most T20 matches and Virat Kohli’s performance against spinners has been continuously deteriorating in the last few years. He does not give wickets quickly but does not score runs quickly either. Virat also does not play unconventional shots like sweep, reverse sweep, switch hit or scoop/ramp, so that the pressure can be removed from the spinners.
Understand this from one figure – in the last 5 years, in all types of T20 matches, Kohli’s strike rate against right arm spinners is only 118.73, whereas against left arm spinners it falls to only 111. Now Kohli does not have the identity of a powerhitter like Glenn Maxwell or Heinrich Klaasen or Liam Livingston, nor is he able to increase the pace of runs with different shots like Suryakumar Yadav. In such a situation, it is a big challenge for him to bat in the middle overs.
Kohli against all types of Spin in T20s in last 5 years:
Right Arm Spin – 919 runs, 118.73 SR, 48.36 ave
Left Arm Spin – 584 runs, 111.23 SR, 83.42 aveRight Arm Off Spin – 239 runs, 111.68 SR, 39.83 ave
Right Arm Leg Spin – 658 runs, 121.62 SR, 50.61 aveLeft Arm https://t.co/hnDBuYvPMh
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 30, 2024
Advantages and disadvantages of Kohli’s opening
From this it seems that he should open for the team because in the powerplay he is successful in batting fast against the pacers. In this IPL season, Kohli has looked even better in this regard than before. In such a situation, this option is better for them. Besides, this also gives the option of including explosive batsmen like Shivam Dubey or Sanju Samson. But the issue is also that due to this, Team India will miss out on the ability of a more aggressive and fearless batsman like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been successful in batting fast in the powerplay and beyond. That means the decision is not going to be easy for the team management.
