Rohit confirms India’s openers for T20 WC, chooses between KL Rahul, Kohli

After Virat Kohli’s record-breaking unbeaten 122 off just 61 balls against Afghanistan in Asia Cup, there were talks about the former captain accompanying the current one at the top of the order permanently but Rohit Sharma cleared that KL Rahul will open with him in T20 World Cup in Australia as well as the home series against Australia and South Africa and Virat Kohli will be the back-up option as the third opener.

The India captain said Kohli’s innings against Afghanistan proved that he is ready to bat in any situation but that doesn’t mean the Indian think tank will disregard the truckload of runs KL Rahul has scored over the years while opening the batting.

“Virat Kohli is our third opener. In the last match of the Asia Cup, we were happy with the way he played. KL Rahul will open the batting in the World Cup, his performance sometimes goes quite unnoticed. He is a very important player for Team India. For us, I just want to make it clear, that we are clear in our thought process. Hamare andar kya khichdi pak rahi hai wo hume pata hai (We do not have any confusion). We are very clear about what KL Rahul brings to the table for us, he is a quality player and is very important for us. His presence at the top is very crucial for us,” Rohit said ahead of the series opener against Australia.

Rohit also highlighted Kohli’s success while opening the batting for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and said that he is a ‘definite option’ in this format.

“It is always nice to have options available for you. It is important going into a World Cup that you have flexibility. You want the players to be in the best shape batting at any position. When we try to do something new, that does not mean that’s a problem. For us, we understand the quality of all our players and what they bring to us. But yeah, it is an option for us, we will always keep that in mind. Since we have not taken the third opener, he opens for his franchise and he has done really well, so it is a definite option for us,” Rohit added.

Rohit’s third opener comment on Virat Kohli also put an end to the experiments with Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant at the top of the order as the India captain clearly mentioned that they are not considering anyone else apart from Kohli as the backup option.