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Virat Kohli, yet again, flopped as an opener. The star player has fallen thrice in a row cheaply against Ireland, Pakistan, and the US. What’s gone wrong with King Kohli? It is because Kohli is trying to go hard at the bowling and wants to score quickly, as he did in the IPL power plays. It is simple – IPL is easy, T20 World Cup is tough.
The New York pitch is offering a lot of seam movement and the Indian batters – be it Kohli or Rohit Sharma – are just not equipped to play the seaming ball. Our batters are used to playing on placid tracks, where there is nothing for the bowlers and hence are struggling against the moving ball.
Now that the bowlers are getting some assistance, could India try bringing down Kohli to one-down and disturb Rishab Pant’s batting order? Pant is the only batter who looked in control of things for India. He is the saving grace for India.
“We have Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is an outstanding batter. Why can’t we use him? Virat is not an opener. Why are we using him like this on a seaming pitch when you have to score runs quickly?” former Indian cricketer from Delhi Surinder Khanna told CricBlogger.
Khanna suggested that Pant should bat at four. “Kohli and the other top batsmen seem to be struggling on a dicey New York pitch. The ICC would have banned this kind of undulated pitch if this was in India. Batting is difficult here. This type of two-paced wicket with tremendous seam movement is a tough nut to crack,” Khanna, who was also the IPL governing council member, said.
What if Kohli comes one down? Would his team send Kohli after the eighth over as a one-down batter? “On these wickets, India needs the Kohli kind of batter. But he should play like the normal Kohli. He can’t be the Kohli of Bangalore,” Yuzi Chahal’s coach Randhir Singh pointed out.
Whether you like it or not, Kohli is here to stay as an opener. He has the backing of his team and captain Rohit. Kohli is going to open the innings even in the West Indies.
After all, the team management can’t backtrack after deciding to go ahead with the Kohli-Rohit opening combination. “The wickets would be tough in the West Indies. In New York, 120 is the par score. It can be 160 in the West Indies. The challenge would be to tackle the spinners. The ball is going to turn there for sure,” Randhir said while predicting the future.
