'No question about that': Pujara opines on whether Kohli should replace Rahul as opener

Former India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday ended his nearly three-year-long century drought as he scored his maiden T20I hundred in the Asia Cup game against Afghanistan. Kohli scored an unbeaten 122 off just 61 balls while opening the batting with KL Rahul. Kohli's ton has now triggered talks on whether he should be opening the batting in the shorter format alongside captain Rohit Sharma. 

T20 World Cup 2022: Should Kohli open the batting?

Talking about the same, India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara said Kohli shouldn't be opening the batting going into the T20 World Cup because Rohit and KL Rahul make a good opening pair. Pujara said Kohli is better off at No. 3, a position he has held since establishing himself as one of the best batters in the world. Pujara stated that Kohli has scored a lot of runs while batting at No. 3 and should continue batting at the position.  

"I don't think so. I think he is better off at No. 3. He has proved that and KL and Rohit I think they make a good pair as an opening partner so I think Virat should continue batting at No. 3 and that he has scored a lot of runs at No. 3 so there's no question about that," Pujara said. 

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa also reiterated Pujara's point, saying that Kohli should continue batting at the No. 3 position where he has been very successful in the past. Uthappa said Kohli was sent to open the batting with Rahul on Thursday so he could bring back the flow. 

"He does love opening but we have to understand the fact that he opened in this game was to bring back that flow more than anything. I think that flow is back today and he's a master at No. 3. It's not like he hasn’t been successful at No. 3, right? He's a master at that position so I think this game was a lot more about confidence than about whether he will open the batting or should he open the batting," Uthappa said. 

Kohli scores 71st international century

Kohli scored an unbeaten 122 runs against Afghanistan to bring up his 71st international hundred on Thursday. With his 71st century, Kohli has now equalled the record of former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's mark of 71 international centuries. Only Sachin Tendulkar (100) has more international centuries than Kohli and Ponting. Kohli reached the milestone of 71 international centuries in just 522 innings, which is the fastest among the three greats.

Image: AP/PTI