The Indian team, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, has reached the final of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America, against South Africa, as the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin feels that Virat Kohli, even after all his struggle in this competition, should not be demoted at number three in the batting order.
The former captain of the side is going through a horrible time in the tournament as runs have been hard to come by off his blade, even after spending a very sweet and smooth time in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. In seven innings, Kohli has only captured 75 runs at an average of under 11, and a strike rate of only 100.
There have been talks of Kohli being pushed down to number three, but Ravichandran Ashwin feels that the team management should not make any unlikely changes in the winning combination of the side.
‘You don’t want to break anything’- Ravichandran Ashwin
The veteran Ravichandran Ashwin doesn’t see Virat Kohli coming at number three in the batting order, especially after being unbeaten in the tournament so far. If Kohli gets down at number three, and India drops Shivam Dube, then all the batters too would get demoted in the batting, as Yashasvi Jaiswal would aim to open the batting.
‘Everyone is saying that we should open Jaiswal, instead of Dube and play Virat No. 3. Why fix something that’s not broken?’ The off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin expressed on his YouTube Channel. ‘Rishabh is playing in No.3. As far as I know, it’s not a debate.’
With the new template that the team has been showing, Kohi has needed to bat out of his nature. That has affected him, and what has also not worked in his favor is the pitches towards the start of the tournament in New York, where the surface had been quite tricky.
Once Virat lost his momentum and rhythm in the batting, it became so tough for him to come back even on those dry, low, and slow surfaces in the Caribbean, which too isn’t going to help him much for the rest of the tournament.
Ravichandran Ashwin observes that there shouldn’t be any thought process of breaking the winning combination and that too in the final of the tournament.
‘No chance, bro. If someone has played cricket at a high level, he knows how important the energy of a group is. Especially when you come into a final. You don’t want to fix.’ The Tamil Nadu-born Ravichandran Ashwin reflected. ‘You don’t want to break anything. What has taken you till that point; you want to back that.’
When it comes to batting under pressure in a big match, the whole country will look up to Virat helping them by any contribution, as he has been doing for the last so many years. The former India wicket-keeper batter Robin Uthappa feels that the Delhi-batter would remain unbeaten for his half-century in the final.
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‘I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Virat is going to play a match-winning in this game. For me, he is a big match player.’ Uthappa highlighted in the same video. ‘There is no bigger match. As far as I know, you won’t get a bigger match like this in T20 cricket. You get it once in two years.’
He needs that Virat Kohli would finish the tournament on a high, helping India secure the trophy, which they have been waiting for the last 17 years, since winning it in the very first edition.
It’s the biggest game in T20 cricket that happens once in two years. So, there is no bigger stage for a big player like Virat Kohli to go out there and set the world alight.’ The Karnataka-born concluded. ‘So, I’m backing Virat to get a 50-plus score. Maybe even a not-out score in this game.’
India will face South Africa in the final in Barbados.