'You need thinking cricketers': Matthew Hayden opens up on Virat Kohli's form in T20 WC

Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden has backed India batter Virat Kohli to perform well in the Super 8 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Hayden believes that Kohli will come good in the West Indies leg of the tournament because of the kind of pitches in the Caribbean region. 

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Matthew Hayden on Virat Kohli's form

"Kohli, in any condition, has been a world-class batter. These venues (Caribbean) where you have to think about the way you construct your innings and think about also the kind of realistic totals that are possible in these different venues," Matthew Hayden said on Star Sports.

“Outside of St Lucia, par scores are in the range of 160-170 and Virat, with all his experience, will be able to work out what to do, like hitting spin towards the windward side, depending on how significant it is,” he said.

"Virat is in a really good space, he's had extremely tough conditions and no one would have liked that in the competition. Everyone wants to see these great champions being able to play freely and that's going to be the case and experience counts," Hayden added. 

“During the IPL, I was advocating that if Kohli is going to be in the team, he needs to open. Virat at three, I don't think we get the best out of him. You can't just turn up and blast 250 on these wickets. You need thinking cricketers; it borders on performance during this World Cup,” Hayden said.

Virat Kohli was the top run-scorer in IPL 2024 but is yet to perform well in the T20 World Cup 2024. Kohli has just 5 runs under his belt in the ongoing ICC tournament. 

Also Read: 'There are subtleties around them,': Ex-NZ captain opines on Jadeja or Axar for India in WC Super 8

Kuldeep should definitely play 

India will face Afghanistan in their first super 8 match on Thursday and Srikkanth and Piyush Chawla pitched for wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion in the playing XI, terming him a potential match winner.

"If I was captain, i will surely play Kuldeep Yadav. Wrist spinners are always potential match winners. I might drop siraj, he is a good bowler. But in this wicket Kuldeep should surely play," Srikkanth said.

Chawla added: "100 per cent he should play. If you look at the venues, they are spin-friendly. When team was picked, everyone asked why four spinners and Rohit had said you will come to know and he was talking about this league.

"You definitely need one wrist-spinner, especially in those conditions where the ball is spinning and pitches are on the slower sides. So if it's going to be toss up between Arshdeep and Siraj, then I think Siraj has to make the way." 

(With PTI inputs)