
Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer has suggested Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal should open for India in the forthcoming 2024 T20 World Cup, to be held in West Indies and USA in June. Captain Rohit Sharma and Jaiswal were India's openers in their last T20I series in the run-up to the T20 WC, however, Jaffer feels Rohit can bat at No. 4 as he plays spin really well and backed Kohli to replace him at the top. Meanwhile, the former cricketer feels Suryakumar Yadav can bat at No. 3 in the mega event.
Jaffer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "Kohli and Jaiswal should open in the World Cup imo. Rohit & SKY should bat 3 and 4 depending on the start we get. Rohit plays spin really well so batting at 4 shouldn't be a concern."
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It is to be noted that Rohit has a decent recordwhile batting at No. 3 and 4. In 12 T20Is batting in those positions, the Indian captain has 315 runs at an average of 39.37 with four half-centuries under his belt. Nonetheless, he has batted as an opener for majority part of his T20I career and has all his four T20I centuries while batting at the top. On the other hand, Kohli has been India's best batter at No. 3, in white-ball formats, for a very long time. However, he has a good record as a T20I opener as well. The right-hander had 400 runs from nine games at an average of 57.14 with a top score of 122 not out (which came against Afghanistan during 2022 Asia Cup 2022). Meanwhile,Jaiswalhas a solitary T20I hundred as an opener, which cameagainst Nepal in the 2023 Asian Games.
India are placed in Group A in the T20 WC, along with arch-rivals Pakistan, USA, Ireland and Canada. They open their campaign on June 5 versus Ireland in New York before their marquee face-off versus Pakistan on June 9.