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Former Australian captain Aaron Finch asserted that Indian batter Virat Kohli should not open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cup 2024. Instead, Finch advocated for Yashasvi Jaiswal’s inclusion in India’s lineup for the ICC tournament, praising his aggressive start.
The India cricket team played a warm-up match against Bangladesh at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Saturday, June 1. The Men in Blue secured a confident 60-run victory, bolstering their morale ahead of their World Cup opener against Ireland.
In the warm-up match, Rohit Sharma opened the batting with Sanju Samson, who scored just one run off six balls. Despite being a regular since his T20I debut, Yashasvi Jaiswal did not bat in the match, and the team management hinted that he might not be in the plans for their first World Cup match.
The team might consider having Virat Kohli open in upcoming matches, which would allow Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube to be included in the playing XI. Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav are expected to bat in the middle order, while either Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel will likely bat at No. 7 as a bowling all-rounder.
Aaron Finch says India Have Got A Very Good Side.
On The Grade Cricketer podcast, Aaron Finch remarked that India has a very strong team. He noted that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma would provide a solid start, while Virat Kohli can bat deep into the innings with a high strike rate.
“Say it is a 180-style tournament, then India have got a very good side for it. (Kohli) can bat long into the innings and still strike at 150,” said Finch.
“Jaiswal is gun, he tees off with Rohit Sharma up top, they will go as hard as they can. Once Virat then gets in then the other ones continues to go really hard because everyone know that he is going to bat long,” he added.
Aaron Finch says They Are Still The Team To Beat.
Aaron Finch, a member of the broadcast team for the 2023 World Cup in India, mentioned that Australia won the title despite a rough beginning in that tournament. The former opener expressed confidence that Australia has a chance to win the T20 World Cup.
“When I was in India for the World Cup, even when Australia lost the first two games everyone kept saying that they are still the team to beat. I was thinking the way they are playing at the moment, they are not,” Finch further said.
“They weren’t playing good cricket in the first two games, really poor against South Africa in the second, got convincingly beaten by India in the first game. But everyone was talking about the aura of the Australian team in the World Cup so that is something that you feel and hear it talked about when you are playing.”
The Australian team defeated India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to secure their sixth title in the ODI World Cup 2023. They will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Oman at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday, June 5.
