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Australian legend Matthew Hayden brought a dramatic twist to Virat Kohli's T20 World Cup saga by suggesting dropping the talismanic batter from Team India's playing XI during the ICC event.
According to Matthew Hayden, captain Rohit Sharma should include Virat Kohli as an opener or leave him out of the side.
“You have to have a left-right combination. You can't have five right-handers in a row. Australia would just say hello to Zampa. Kohli has to open or he does not play in my team. He is in absolute red-hot form,” Matthew Hayden told ESPNCricinfo.
“Rohit is a versatile player and does not shy away from batting away in that middle order. He has a successful record in T20I cricket batting at No. 4 and he can lead the batting group from the early middle order,” he added.
Last week, the Team India talisman became the first cricketer to claim four ICC ODI Player of the Year awards. The International Cricket Council (ICC) also named him in last year's Men's ODI Team of the Year.
The honor was announced after Virat Kohli joined the Rohit Sharma-led team in New York where the Men in Blue will begin their campaign in the 2024 T20 World Cup on June 5.
Sharing a video, the ICC showcased Virat Kohli's accomplishments in 2023 before presenting him with the award and a special cap.
It is worth noting that no other player in the history of cricket has won five ICC awards, while Virat Kohli has already picked up ten with the possibility of a few more trophies not being ruled out.
Team India's batting mainstay, Virat Kohli, delivered the goods for the Rohit Sharma-led side in last year's Cricket World Cup as he emerged as the leading run-scorer in the quadrennial event.
He scored 765 runs with three centuries in the premier ODI competition, earning the Player of the Tournament award in the ICC World Cup.
Overall, Virat Kohli featured in 27 ODIs in the previous year, where the 35-year-old made 1,377 runs with an exceptional average of 72.47 and a highly impressive strike rate of 99.13.
En route to his 24 innings in 27 matches in 2023, he smashed six hundreds and eight half-centuries.
Meanwhile, cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar dropped a Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bombshell ahead of Team India's T20 World Cup opener against Ireland on Wednesday.
Alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli is expected to open the innings for India at the elite T20I event in the West Indies and the US which starts on June 1.
However, Sanjay Manjrekar is of the view that the national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar shouldn't have included Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the squad.
Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that the Indian selectors have made a mistake by selecting them in the squad. Instead, they should have picked a young lot of players for the ICC competition.
“Ideally, I would not have gone that way. I would have stuck with a slightly younger core set of players. But the selectors have committed themselves to the icons, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” Sanjay Manjrekar told Star Sports.
“Now that they are in the squad, it is impossible to have Virat Kohli batting at number 3, because then you don't get the full value of Virat. And Rohit Sharma, as well, has to open. So, India, in a way, have forced themselves to have only one kind of combination, two right-handers. Unfortunately, Jaiswal will have to sit out,” he pointed out.
“I would have gone completely with a new lot; then, you would have had a lot more flair and it would be something different. India have trusted the seniors, a move that hasn't worked over the years. Let's hope it works this time,” Sanjay Manjrekar noted.
Sanjay Manjrekar's comments came in the aftermath of Virat Kohli showing his batting prowess as an opener during the IPL, finishing the tournament as the leading run-scorer.
During the 17th edition of the tournament, he made 741 runs in 15 matches, thus becoming the only batter to cross the 700-run barrier this year.
With this, Virat Kohli won the Orange Cap for the second time in the history of the IPL, having previously bagged it in 2016.
In 2016, Virat Kohli struck a phenomenal 973 runs, which remains a record in the event.
However, he was criticized for his batting style throughout the event, with questions being raised about his strike rate almost regularly by former cricketers.
Among two of the most vocal critics of Virat Kohli's strike rate in the IPL were the legendary Sunil Gavaskar and retired New Zealand pacer Simon Doull.
