"I feel he will open with Rohit in the T20 World Cup" - Parthiv Patel picks his opening pair for ICC event

Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel has picked KL Rahul as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

Rahul is currently injured and is not part of the ongoing T20I series against West Indies. Ishan Kishan opened the batting with Rohit in the first T20I on Wednesday and struggled, crawling to a 42-ball 35. On the other hand, the Indian captain smacked 40 in 19 balls.

Asked who should open with Rohit at the T20 World Cup, Parthiv said during a discussion on Cricbuzz:

“KL Rahul is a long-term opening option for me. When Rahul returns to the team, I think he will open the innings with Rohit. Personally, I feel he will open with Rohit in the T20 World Cup."

On Kishan’s chances at the top of the order, Parthiv added:

“Ishan Kishan is not a bad option when he is in rhythm. When he is in the right mindspace, he allows Rohit to take a bit of time. But I think it will be Rahul and Rohit at the World Cup.”

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra also echoed similar sentiments. According to him, while India have a number of options to pick from, no one can match the Rohit-Rahul pair when it comes to quality. He elaborated:

“For me, this has been the No. 1 opening pair for quite some time. Of course, when it comes to options, India have innumerable ones and it is up to them which one to pick. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Venkatesh Iyer, Ishan Kishan - all are openers. But for me, in T20Is, Rohit and KL Rahul are the best options as openers for the T20 World Cup.”

Apart from Ishan and Rahul, Virat Kohli also briefly opened the innings in the build-up to the T20 World Cup 2021. But that experiment was short-lived.

---

“Ishan Kishan was trying to hit the ball too hard” - Parthiv Patel

In Rahul’s absence, Kishan opened the innings with Rohit on Wednesday in what could be viewed as an audition for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The young left-hander struggled, scoring at a strike rate of 83.33 during his 42-ball stay.

Analyzing the 23-year-old’s unimpressive innings, Parthiv commented:

“Ishan Kishan was trying to hit the ball too hard instead of timing it. When he was playing cross-batted strokes, he was using the bottom hand so much that the face of the bat was closing. Instead, he could have shown some patience and played a few shots with a straight bat. But it just did not happen for him on the day.”

The southpaw hit only four fours during his 57-minute stay at the crease. He was eventually caught at deep midwicket while trying to take on Roston Chase.