A former teammate of Virat Kohli at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, South African legend AB de Villiers, has expressed his opinion regarding the matter of Kohli opening for India alongside Rohit Sharma in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in USA & West Indies instead of playing at his preferred position of number 3.
Virat Kohli made his comeback in the format for the first time since the T20 World Cup semi-final loss against England in November 2022. The 35-year-old scored a quickfire 29 off 16 balls at a strike rate of 180+. He was looking in great touch and it did not seem as if he was returning to international T20 cricket after a gap of over 12 months.
He had to miss the 1st T20 due to a personal issue but his comeback in the 2nd T20I was a great one. The 3rd T20 at the M Chinnaswamy tonight will see him return to his IPL home where he has played countless memorable knocks for RCB and tonight fans will turn up to see hopefully another Virat Kohli masterclass.
Kohli is most likely to play at number 3 in the World Cup but there was noise around social media that the management might as well try him out as an opener. This idea received many reactions but AB de Villiers feels that it will be a bad idea to execute.
De Villiers claimed that Virat Kohli at number 3, acts as a glue holding the top-order, middle-order as well as tailenders.
“I have a different opinion. For the most part of my international career, Virat batting at No. 3 was the biggest threat for us when we played against India. I’ve always felt like he was the glue of the team in the middle-order. No. 3 is not quite middle-order, it is top-order. But he is so good that he often combined with the middle-order, even down to tailenders. It’s just impossible to play against that,” De Villiers said.
“His Average Is 23 And Strike Rate Is 138”, AB de Villiers Reminds Virat Kohli’s Number As Opener
AB De Villiers went on to further claim that Virat Kohli, the opener has worse stats than the one the coming to bat at number 3. We have previously seen Kohli don the opening role for RCB, most notably last season with Faf Du Plessis but De Villiers gave a fitting response against it by reminding everyone of his stats while facing the new ball.
“With a new ball, facing the first few deliveries there, I just think that the chances of getting a good delivery up front are so much better. I’m worried about that position. Even though the numbers don’t look bad, I have some other stats for you. When Virat faces the very first ball as an opener, his average is 23 and strike rate is 138. When he doesn’t face the first ball and is at the non-striker’s end, he averages 140 with a strike rate of 173,” De Villiers concluded.
“What I do like is that No. 3 position. 79 games played there, average of 55 and strike rate of 135. Very solid, match-winner, keeps everyone together, and he allows some of the power hitters to have freedom at the back end of the innings.”
The post IND vs AFG: Should Virat Kohli Open For India In T20Is? AB de Villiers Gives No-Nonsense Verdict appeared first on CricketAddictor.
A former teammate of Virat Kohli at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, South African legend AB de Villiers, has expressed his opinion regarding the matter of Kohli opening for India alongside Rohit Sharma in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in USA & West Indies instead of playing at his preferred position of number 3.
The post IND vs AFG: Should Virat Kohli Open For India In T20Is? AB de Villiers Gives No-Nonsense Verdict appeared first on CricketAddictor.
