‘Like when Sachin Tendulkar was batting down’: Sunil Gavaskar wants Kohli to continue opening the innings for Team India
India defeated England, the no.1 ranked T20 side, by an impressive margin of 36 runs to clinch the five-match T20I series 3-2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Team India were twice behind in the series against England. But like always, they bounced back to level the series and when it mattered the most, Team India produced their best performance. India defeated England, the no.1 ranked T20 side, by an impressive margin of 36 runs to clinch the five-match T20I series 3-2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli produced an unbeaten match-winning innings of 80 to power the hosts to a mammoth total of 224 runs. Kohli opened the innings for India along with Rohit Sharma and stayed right till the end. England could eventually only muster up 188 runs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar being the pick of the bowlers for the Indian side.
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Kohli was opening the innings for India after three years. But his performance proved that he could be a big asset with Rohit Sharma at the top as India are stacked in the middle-order with the emergence of Suryakumar Yadav.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar also wants Kohli to continue batting as an opener as the team needs their best batsman ‘to bat as many overs’ as he can.
"Your best batsman should bat the most number of overs in limited-overs cricket. So it was very important for Virat Kohli to bat at the top of the order. So maybe, KL Rahul’s loss of form has been a blessing in disguise because this has given us an opening combination to look forward to.
"Like when Sachin Tendulkar was batting down the order in ODIs and then he was sent up to open the batting and what a transformation it had not just on his batting but the whole team. So clearly, your best batsman have to bat as many overs as they can," Gavaskar told India Today.
After winning both the Test series and T20 contest, India will look to white-wash England as they switch their focus to the 50-over format. The first ODI of the three-match series will be played on Tuesday in Pune.