Bengaluru: Legendary Brian Lara asserted that Virat Kohli’s value transcends cold numbers, and the West Indian virtuoso has little doubt that the star batter should be a part of India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Kohli stood in the eye of a social media storm after making a 67-ball hundred for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Rajasthan Royals in their IPL 2024 match at Jaipur, which was the joint slowest hundred in the competition alongside Manish Pandey’s century in 2009.
“The strike-rate depends on position, and for an opener strike-rate of 130-140 is pretty alright. But if you are coming in the middle-order then you may be required to hit at 150 or 160. As you have seen in this IPL, batsmen are hitting at 200 in the latter part of an innings.
“But an opener like Kohli always has the chance of starting at 130, bat through the overs and finish at 160 or even higher, which is alright,” Lara said on Monday during the Star Sports Press Room which was also attended by former India batter Ambati Rayudu.
“But if you ask me, India’s top three in the World Cup should be Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill irrespective of all these. And for RCB, it should not be about one person, as it has to be a team effort,” said Lara.
The Trinidadian said opening the innings with Kohli and Rohit in the T20 World Cup could be a tempting option, but strongly advocated India pairing a younger name with the experienced player at the pole position.
“I think Rohit and Virat going as openers to the West Indies (for WC) will serve India very well. Though, I think that you should have some youthful punch in the opening.”