When Virat Kohli walked out to open India’s innings at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur on Thursday night, many would have felt it was a stark example of the captain wanting to lead from the front. Maybe Kohli wanted to continue his record-breaking run while opening for his Indian Premier League franchise in the 2016 edition.
Theories aside, the biggest reason for Kohli opening the innings was to fill in for enigmatic Rohit Sharma, still recovering from the thigh surgery he underwent during the ODI series against New Zealand last October. With Rohit sidelined, Kohli along with the team think-tank thought it best to promote an on-song batsman instead of trying out a new opener and tinker with the team combination.
Kohli, the captain, had no hesitation in admitting it. “There was no special strategy. Some were expecting that I would open because it added more balance to the squad. You can play another batsman in the middle order, like Suresh Raina at No. 3,” Kohli said after India’s tame loss in the opening T20I against England.
“If Rohit was in the side, there would be no question and he would be opening with [K.L.] Rahul. It’s more of providing balance to the side.”
If India had to draft in rookie Rishabh Pant at the top of the order, it would have resulted in Manish Pandey maintaining his streak of warming the bench. However, with Pandey deserving a decent run in the side after failing to make the cut in the three ODIs, Kohli had to move up the order.
“I have no urge to open. I can play at No. 3 as well, I have [batted] at No. 3 for India for a long time. I can play anywhere the management thinks is the best for the team,” Kohli said.
“This is just a case of Rohit not being there and because I have opened in IPL and I have a fair idea of it. It was about adding balance to the side and making another guy play instead of pushing another guy to open who doesn’t have experience there. That would be unfair on him.”
Rohit and Kohli’s bond aside, his move is also much-required considering the lull at the top for the team in the shorter formats. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane didn’t click at all in the one-dayers. And with the latter two being omitted from T20s, the team is naturally missing a solid batsman like Rohit at the top of the order.
Rohit may not have lived up to his billing in Test cricket yet but the Mumbai batsman’s exploits in the limited formats have reached greater heights ever since he was promoted to open the batting four overs ago.
More than shielding Rohit, Kohli would be hoping to fire at Jamtha on Sunday night to keep the T20I series alive.
