‘Another Indian talent coming through’: Hogg names player who should open the batting with Virat Kohli in IPL 2021

There has been a lot of talk about Virat Kohli’s batting position in the T20s. Kohli has generally batted in the middle order for India but recently he opted to open the innings with Rohit Sharma in a T20 international against England. Then Kohli commented that he would be opening the batting in the coming months for Royal Challengers Bangalore and for India.

So who would open the batting with Kohli for RCB? Parthiv Patel, Aaron Finch, and Josh Philippe, and Devdutt Padikkal did that last season. Padikkal impressed everyone with his batting and former Australian spinner Brad Hogg believes he should open the batting with Kohli for RCB in IPL 2021.

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“They will have Padikkal open the batting. I think he did a fantastic job last year and is another Indian talent coming through. Opening the batting with him will be Virat Kohli. I think that is his prime position. He will be able to time the ball, pierce the gaps during the powerplay. His role will be to bat through the whole innings,” Brad Hogg stated in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

Hogg also said that RCB have a dominant top six this season with the inclusion of Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, and Mohammed Azharuddeen.

"You have got AB de Villiers coming in at no. 3 and then Glenn Maxwell to finish off the innings at no. 4. I will have Dan Christian coming in at no. 5, another power-hitter, and Mohammed Azharuddeen. I think that particular six would be dominant in this year's IPL," Brad Hogg said.

Hogg’s ideal XI for RCB:

Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, and Yuzvendra Chahal.