"Virat Kohli has got the capability of getting a 40-ball 100" - Sourav Ganguly
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes Virat Kohli is capable of not only scoring 60 or 70-ball centuries in T20s but also repliacting the template set by the likes of Travis Head of 40-ball centuries when needed.
Kohli's T20 abilities have been under a cloud in IPL 2024, despite him scoring 379 runs at a strike rate of 150.40 in eight matches. That's because other openers, like Head, Abhishek Sharma, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, and more recently Yashasvi Jaiswal have scored at an even quicker clip.
Kohli has often been bogged down against spin in the middle overs and occasionally forced to slow down because of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)'s batting struggles. All of this, in turn, has created doubts over his selection for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies in June.
"Virat Kohli has got the capability of getting a 40-ball 100 also..." Ganguly said in a special media event organized by Delhi Capitals on Monday. "India, with the talent they have, just need to go and hit. The mindset should be to hit and then we'll see what happens in five-six overs."
Asked about whether India's top order was capable of making that "drastic" change of being anchors and main men for their respective IPL team to hard-hitters at the World Cup, Ganguly replied:
"It's not a drastic change. They have the talent to do that change. You saw how Rohit batted in the 50-over World Cup, just came and hit at the top. That's why we were such a good side. It put so much pressure on the opposition in the first seven-eight overs and gave breathing space for the lower order. I think Virat and Rohit (Sharma) should do the same. They are great players."
Whether or not players would continue hitting with similar strike rates at the T20 World Cup is not confirmed either because the pitches there, especially for a glut of home games, are likely to be dry and spin-favoring, unlike in IPL 2024.
"Hope Rahul and Rohit find a method of playing T20 cricket" - Sourav Ganguly
Ganguly also spoke about KL Rahul's tendencies of batting slow at the top of the order. He said the Lucknow Super Giants captain was "exceptional" for his 82 against the Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow and now it's about playing "freely and without fear" for him and other batting talents.
"It depends on what the captain and the coach instructs him (Rahul) to do in the middle," Ganguly said. "The other day I saw him play an innings against Chennai in Lucknow where I thought he was exceptional. He did exactly what was required to do at that moment. It's about playing freely and without fear, that's the most important thing."
"I hope Rahul and Rohit find a method of playing T20 cricket because [they and] Virat, Hardik (Pandya), Rishabh (Pant), Soorya (Kumar Yadav) and Shivam Dube of Chennai - these are exceptional talents. The six-hitting ability of all of them is enormous. That's the way they should play - just hit," he added.
India will play their first match of the 2024 T20 World Cup against Ireland on June 5.