(Source/ Navbharat Times)
Harbhajan Singh chose to elevate Suryakumar Yadav in the India XI led by Virat Kohli for the T20 World Cup clash against Ireland.
Renowned Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has endorsed the combination of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as India’s opening batsmen for their inaugural match in the ICC World T20 2024. Rohit Sharma’s Indian team is poised to kick off their campaign in the T20 World Cup with a fixture against Ireland scheduled for Wednesday. India prepared for the ICC event by securing a victory over Bangladesh in their sole practice match held in New York.
Addressing reporters following the warm-up match between India and Bangladesh, captain Rohit Sharma conceded that the 2007 champions are yet to finalize their batting lineup for the T20 World Cup. Given Virat Kohli’s stellar performance as an opener in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), the team coached by Rahul Dravid may consider promoting the in-form batsman to the top order. This adjustment would necessitate sacrificing the spot of young talent Yashasvi Jaiswal to accommodate Kohli as Rohit’s opening partner.
“I feel it would be tough for Yashasvi Jaiswal to…” stated former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh while discussing India’s possible playing XI ahead of the match against Ireland. He elaborated on why Virat Kohli should partner with Rohit Sharma as the opening pair for the ICC tournament.”Batting is going to be difficult on this pitch. You need your big players in such situations and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should open. The platform that they can set, I feel it would be tough for Yashasvi Jaiswal to do the same in these conditions,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
The 2007 World Cup champion suggests that Suryakumar Yadav, the top-ranked batsman, should occupy Kohli’s preferred batting position in the T20 World Cup lineup. Harbhajan Singh, the spin-bowling legend, finalized India’s formidable batting order by including Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja. However, he opposed the idea of reuniting spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the Indian lineup.
“When I was in India, I said that spinners would play a big role in this T20 World Cup. However, after arriving here, I feel that while spinners will be useful, the fast bowlers will be in the game every single ball on this pitch. We saw what Anrich Nortje did in that spell. Even an ordinary bowler has looked threatening here,” he added.
Harbhajan Singh’s lineup for the India vs. Ireland match at the T20 World Cup
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh.
