Matthew Hayden DROPS Virat Kohli From His Suggested India’s Playing XI For T20 WC 2024, Rohit Sharma AXED as Opener

New York: Ahead of the India versus Ireland T20 World Cup 2024 game on Wednesday, all the talk is about the Indian openers. Who opens with three candidates in line – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal? Former Australian legend Matthew Hayden weighed in on this and suggested that Virat Kohli opens with Yashasvi Jaiswal. As per Hayden, if Kohli is not opening, he does not find a spot in the XI.
“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,” he said on ESPNCricinfo.
Citing his good record in T20s in the middle-order at No. 4, Hayden reckoned Indian captain Rohit should bat at that number.
“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.
The Indian XI looks formidable on paper, now it would be interesting to see the kind of performances they come up with. India are the T20 WC champions in 2007 in the inaugural edition.
India will take on Ireland in their T20 World Cup opening match in New York on June 5 before the high-octane clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9. You can follow the LIVE updates of all India matches on india.com for all games.