Former India captain Virat Kohli ended a century drought which stretched over 1,000 days to score his maiden T20I century against Afghanistan in their final Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2022 last week. It was Kohli’s 71st international century and came as an opener with regular skipper Rohit Sharma resting for the match.
With Kohli making a statement at the top of the order, former India batter Rohan Gavaskar believes that Virat opening the batting in the T20 World Cup 2022 could be a ‘big’ option for India. “Look, in terms of should Virat be opening, I think it’s a great option. You look at his T20 numbers, they are outstanding. He averages about 55-57 and his strike rate is about 160. Those are phenomenal numbers,” Rohan Gavaskar said on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports over the top’.
“His last innings, again unbeaten innings of 122, tells you that he probably relishes opening as well. If memory serves me right, he wanted to open or he said he wanted to open in the Indian T20 league in this edition or the last edition, he said that’s the spot I want to be. So, it’s obviously something that he wants to do. So, it’s definitely a big option for the Indian team,” he added.
All the Boundaries Virat Kohli Scored by his Blade _ in Asia Cup 2022 __ pic.twitter.com/KgYCEnPY2t
— VK18___ (@vk18fansl) September 13, 2022
Rohan Gavaskar felt that Suryakumar Yadav could be elevated to a more favourable No. 3 position if Kohli is playing as an opener. “It does open up those options and you’re right, SKY batting at number 3 it’s a pleasing thought. But I have to say if Virat opens, he showed what a tremendous success he is as an opener. It means one of my favourite players will have to make way which is KL Rahul. Because KL Rahul, I’ve said this before, he’s an absolute class act.
“So look, it’s one of those tricky sort of situations but SKY at number 3, I think that’s what we want. His numbers you know and as rightly said, he’s one of the best batters in T20,” Rohan Gavaskar felt.
Gavaskar also spoke about Virat Kohli’s century against Afghanistan. “With all due respect, you’re talking to someone who has never scored a hundred. You ask any cricketer, doesn’t matter what level you play on, a hundred is a hundred. And this was an international hundred. Whether you score a hundred at a club level, whether you score a hundred at first-class level, it doesn’t matter. A hundred is a hundred. And this, at the end of the day, was an international hundred. So, I don’t bind to these theories of a weakened opposition. No. It was an excellent hundred and that’s what it was. Forget about the weakened opposition, it was an international hundred.”
Gavaskar also gave his take on Virat Kohli’s performance in the death overs. “When you say lethal, he was back to the Virat that we know. Back to the Virat, that 2016 Virat, an unbelievable run-scoring machine that he was in T20. So, he looked to be in that kind of form, which is great because he’s peaking at the right time. With the big one, the world cup coming up, what you want is your players to peak at the right time and seems like he’s speaking at the right time.”
