India may have completed a hat-trick of wins to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 but they have a major concern in Virat Kohli who seems to be out of form. Kohli has managed a five runs across three innings so far including a golden duck against USA.
Kohli entered the tournament on the back of a stupendous IPL 2024 where he scored over 700 runs and finished as the leading run-getter of the season. He was expected to carry his form into the T20I showpiece but so far, he has looked off-colour.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer, who had predicted Kohli to finish the T20 World Cup as the leading run-getter, says the batting superstar will ‘show his greatness’ when it matters and feels that the pitches in New York have been quite tough on the batters.
“Rohit and Virat have been playing on the tough New York pitch so they aren’t quite among the top run-scorers. But do not write off Virat Kohli. As the tournament will get to its business end, he will show his true colors and he will show his greatness. I had picked Virat Kohli as the highest run-scorer and I will stick to him,” Jaffer said in a video on his Youtube channel.
Kohli has batted at no. 3 spot for the majority of his career but given his success as opener in IPL in the past few seasons, the Indian team management has promoted him up the order to partner captain Rohit Sharma.
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Jaffer feels Kohli should continue to open.
“I don’t think Virat Kohli should bat at No. 3. He should continue to open because now you have got Rishabh Pant at No. 3 and now it has been working out really well. You ideally want a left-hand right-hand opening combination and while you have Jaiswal, that doesn’t seem possible,” he said.
India will play their fourth and final Group A match against Canada in Florida.
Jaffer though feels India need to be proactive in the Powerplay.
“You will need to be proactive in the powerplay. You will reach nowhere if you play cautiously on such pitches because the bowler knows he has to bowl on a spot and let the pitch do the rest. We have seen players like Rishabh Pant get rewarded for their bravery and that’s the way you need to play with the powerplay restrictions,” he said.
With India having confirmed their spot in the next round, Jaffer suggests they can give a game to Sanju Samson.
“There might be a case for Sanju Samson at No. 4. But then Shivam Dube has got just a couple of games and the team management will want to give him a longer run. Whether Samson will play, whether Jaiswal will play, these decisions are something that the team management will need to think about going forward,” he said.
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