India vs England T20I series ended on a high for India as the hosts defeated England in the last two matches to seal the series 3-2. The highlight of the 5th ODI was India’s opening batting combination. India’s opening partnership blossomed as Virat Kohli promoted himself at the top of the order. He announced at the toss itself that he will open the batting and to the delight of India’s fans, Virat announced in the post-match presentation that he will continue to open the innings for India in T20Is.
This new-found opening combination has got many in the cricketing world excited. Sunil Gavaskar said that, “We got an opening combination to look forward to.” He went on praising the two batsman and said, “KL Rahul’s injury came in as a blessing in disguise for India. Your best batsman should always come up the order and thus it’s important for Virat to come up the order.” Gavaskar was saying this on India Today news channel.
Not just Gavaskar, a lot of other international cricketers and ex-cricketers were excited to see the both Indian batsmen batting together. Michael Vaughan tweeted: “Can’t be a better opening combo on the eye than @imVkohli & @ImRo45 !!! Could easily match @virendersehwag & @sachin_rt if they stick with this combo ... #INDvENG”
This decision from Kohli came as a surprise as he had shown confidence in KL Rahul opening the batting for India after the 3rd T20I. He had said, “KL Rahul has been a champion player. If you look at his stats in the lat 2-3 years, they are probably better than anyone in T20. He will continue to be one of our main batters along with Rohit at the top of the order.”
Nonetheless, Rohit and Virat batting together has risen the hopes of Indian fans.