India vs Australia 2020: Virat Kohli ready to bat down the order to accommodate opener trio
In a staggering revelation, Indian captain Virat Kohli stated that he would be more than happy to come down the batting order to accommodate the opening trio of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul. With Dhawan making a return after knee surgery, the Indian team management has been under pressure to select the best two out of the three men.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the Australia series beginning this Tuesday, Kohli acknowledged the 'good headache' in the opening department, which bodes well for the future of the team in the long run, and said:
“Look, a guy in form is always good for the team. You obviously want to have the best players available and then chose what the combination should be for the team. There might be a possibility that all three (Rohit, Shikhar, and Rahul) might play.”
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Responding to questions on going down the batting order despite scoring heavily at the number three position, Kohli explained how he was willing to take the step to accommodate the in-form players. He said:
“It will be interesting to see what balance we want to take in on the field... Yeah, big possibility. I would be very happy to do so. Look I am not possessive about where I play. I am not insecure about where I bat.”
andling questions regarding captaincy and building a fitter team, the Indian skipper said that training the new set of talented players efficiently was the main focus of the senior players. Kohli remarked that leaving behind a healthy team culture was his priority since the beginning. He stated:
“Being the captain of the team, it is my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready. A lot of the other people might not look at it that way, but your job as a captain is not only to look after the team right now but also to prepare a team that you leave behind when you eventually pass it onto someone else.”
In 182 innings at the number three position in ODIs, Kohli has scored 9,509 runs at an astonishing average of 63.39. 36 of his 43 ODI hundreds have come batting at the number three slot.