“Virat Kohli has to open or he does not play in my team” – Matthew Hayden on Team India’s top-order combination in T20 WC 2024

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden wants Virat Kohli to open the innings for India in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Hayden said Kohli either opens or he doesn’t play in his team in the T20I showpiece.

Kohli delivered as an opener in the recently concluded IPL for RCB, scoring 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69 and he would look to continue the good show. Kohli has been in red-hot form and Hayden wants India to make the most of it.

Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal did not play in the warm-up match against Bangladesh, and thus there have been suggestions that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma could open the innings for the team.

Hayden wants Indian captain Rohit Sharma to bat in the middle order and wants a left and right batting combination at the top of the order. Rohit Sharma was Mumbai Indians’ top-scorer with 417 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2024 as he scored runs at an average of 32.08 and a strike rate of 150

“You have to have a left-right combination. You can’t have five right-handers in a row. Australia would just say hello to Zampa. Kohli has to open or he does not play in my team. He is in absolute red-hot form. Rohit is a versatile player and does not shy away from batting away in that middle order. He has a successful record in T20I cricket batting at No. 4 and he can lead the batting group from the early middle order,” Matthew Hayden said on ESPN Cricinfo.

Earlier, former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer had also suggested the same idea of opening the innings with Virat Kohli and having Rohit Sharma in the middle order.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.