NEW DELHI: Former Australia swashbuckling opening batsman Matthew Hayden has chosen
Virat Kohli
over captain
Rohit Sharma
to open the innings for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Hayden believes Kohli should partner with young batting star
Yashasvi Jaiswal
at the start of the innings, as the combination of left and right-handed batsmen would greatly benefit Team India.
The highly anticipated tournament is set to begin on June 2, with matches taking place in the US and the West Indies.
Can Dinesh Karthik's finishing skills fetch him WC ticket?
"I've got Virat there. I've got to have him in the powerplay. If I'm going to pick him, he has to play in the powerplay. He has to play the majority of those six overs as an opener, because Yashasvi does deserve to be there in my opinion, and it will be a left and right hand combination which will be a huge bonus, and that's why I say it's such a pivotal selection, this," Hayden, a commentator and cricket Expert with IPL official TV Broadcaster, said on Star Sports Press Room Show Ticket to World Cup, said.
Virat is in ominous touch in the ongoing IPL 2024. He has scored 430 runs so far in 9 matches at an average of 61.43.
"Who would have even thought that we would be having this conversation about the greatest player in India, maybe ever. So it all comes down to are we interested in selecting a side that we believe is the right balance and is going to win this World Cup," Hayden said.
India's most recent T20 World Cup victory occurred during the inaugural tournament in 2007, when
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
's team secured a five-run win over Pakistan in the final, marking their only title in the competition since its inception.
Since their win in 2007, India have made it to the final just once in eight editions. This was in the 2014 tournament in Bangladesh, where they were defeated by Sri Lanka by six wickets.
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