Opinion: Must Rohit-Kohli Really Open For India?

The stage is set for India’s trophy hunt in the ongoing season of the T20 World Cup with the commencement of the tournament a couple of days ago. Now the real question is how good India’s prospects are in this ongoing edition of the World Cup.

This brings us to the question, must Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli open the innings for India? The answer is largely subjective and here is why.

Firstly, Rohit and Kohli are two of the most experienced men in the Indian side. They are the ones who are expected to lead the side from the front as Rohit lays an aggressive foundation while Kohli plays anchor.

While both Kohli and Rohit open the innings in the IPL for RCB and Mumbai respectively, different things are expected for them in team India.

On odd days, if both Kohli and Rohit get out cheaply, India will be in all sorts of trouble and this can’t be afforded at any cost.

The best possible computation of the side is that Rohit must open and Kohli must bat at one down so that the chances of at least one of them firing are good. Else, if both of them open the innings and both fail, it is tough to recover.

India’s middle order is already fragile with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik and Jadeja who are highly inconsistent. So, the onus is on Rohit and Kohli to carefully manage the risks and devise the gameplan accordingly.

The ideal choice, as mentioned above is Rohit opening the innings while Kohli slots in at 1 down.