Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday confirmed that Prithvi Shaw will make his ODI debut as the youngster will open the innings for India in the upcoming series against New Zealand starting February 5. Meanwhile, the skipper also said that KL Rahul will continue to bat in the middle-order, hinting that Mayank Agarwal may join Shaw at the top.
India are looking for the other options at the top-order as vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Tuesday was ruled out of the three-match ODI series and the following two-match Test series due to a calf injury. Notably, Rohit’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan was already out due to shoulder injury.
“Prithvi’s definitely going to start and whoever the replacement is, we’ll ask for an opener (which has already been decided with Agarwal replacing Rohit). KL will bat in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to that role and keep as well,” said Kohli as quoted by PTI.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Kohli said that it’s an ideal time for Rohit to recover as there are not many ODI series lined up in the year of T20 World Cup.
“I understand it’s an unfortunate situation that Rohit can’t be a part of this series. When you talk about one-day cricket and T20 cricket and Test cricket now, he’s one guy who’s always on the list first. But the thing is that we don’t have any one-day tournaments to look forward to.
“It’s if anything an ideal time for him to go away and rectify this as soon as he can and come back. He played the T20I series, so from the team’s balance point of view heading into the World Cup year, it doesn’t really hamper the combination as far as the T20s are concerned,” the skipper added.
Advertisement
