Virat Kohli reveals why he won't open for India alongside Rohit Sharma in T20 World Cup

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has expressed his thoughts on not opening the innings for India alongside Rohit Sharma in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. India play their first warm-up match of the tournament against England on October 18, whereas they play their tournament opener against Pakistan on October 24.

Meanwhile, during the toss of the warm-up match against England, Kohli said that it is difficult for the team to keep KL Rahul off the opening spot in the Indian batting line-up. Citing the opening pair of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, Kohli added that he will bat at No. 3 for India in the tournament.

After winning the toss against England, while speaking on the official broadcast of the match by Star Sports, Kohli said,

"We will bowl first. We have had success in the past. So we want to create that same energy. The IPL is right up there, but this is paramount. Adaptability, how plays where is what matters. We are pretty solid in how we are going to start in the first game. We will look to give game-time to most of them. Things were different before IPL, now it's difficult to look beyond KL Rahul. He's been solid upfront. I will be batting at 3. That's the only thing I can say for now."

KL Rahul the third-highest run-scorer in IPL 2021 

KL Rahul heads into the ICC Men’s  T20 World Cup 2021 on the back of a brilliant display of his batting prowess in IPL 2021. KL Rahul scored 626 runs for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a total of 13 matches. He hit runs at a strike rate of 138.80.

Rahul was the highest run-scorer of the tournament until the final match and ended the IPL 2021 as the third-highest run-scorer. Meanwhile, Kohli opened the innings for RCB and scored 405 runs in 15 matches. He scored runs at a strike rate of 119.46. However, he will play for India as the No. 3 batter as India have plenty of opening options in their hand.

India's 15-man squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021: 

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.  

(Image: PTI)