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
David Warner and Rohit Sharma, who can possibly be termed as two of the greatest opening batsmen of the current time and during a Live chat on Instagram with each other on Friday, Warner said that they have made Virat Kohli and Steve Smith the best batsmen in the world.
“People say Kohli and Smith are the best in the world. But we make Smith and Kohli because we take the shine off the ball. We have got an important job as openers,” Warner said as Rohit also agreed to his Australian counterpart.
Apart from being the greatest openers, both shared a similar story during the initial days of their career as both of them had started as middle-order batsmen. While Rohit batted in the middle-order before the 2013 Champions Trophy, Warner was a lower-order batsman who also bowled as a leg-spinner before he set out on his international career.
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The duo was also seen speaking about their respective opening partners in their national team. Warner plays with Shikhar Dhawan at Sunrisers Hyderabad and opens batting with Finch in limited-overs cricket for Australia while Rohit and Dhawan have formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in limited-overs cricket over the years.
“In 2013, my second game as an opener in the Champions Trophy. I told Shikhar we are playing against South Africa, I’ve never faced Morne Morkel or Dale Steyn with the new ball so you have to take strike.
“He says no, you are more experienced, this is my first tour here and you should take strike. Here is an opener who did not want to take strike. And I could not even see the first three balls from Morkel. I did not expect that much pace or bounce,” said Rohit.
Warner said: “Finchy tells me that against left handers I have to open because he doesn’t want the ball coming into him. But I also don’t want the ball going away from me!”
With IANS inputs
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