T20 World Cup 2024 | "I would open with Virat and Rohit": Ganguly backs Kohli to open in the tournament

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Pic: File Pic)

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly picked stalwart Virat Kohli to open with Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the West Indies.

Virat Kohli will be entering the T20 World Cup 2024 after having a rich vein in form in the recently concluded IPL 2024. Featuring for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 15 matches, Kohli scored 741 runs with an average of 61.75. The right-hander registered one century and five half-centuries to his name with a best score of unbeaten 113 runs. Following this, he was also awarded the "Orang Cap" for the most runs in the season. Kohli batted with a strike rate of 154.69, the highest for him in a single IPL season.

Ganguly feels the way Kohli batted freely in the second half of the IPL 2024 will be crucial for India in the T20 World Cup 2024.

"I would open with Virat and Rohit. I want Virat to bat the way he did for RCB in the second half of the IPL. He has to bat with freedom. Needless to say, he is a great player, but for India to do well, Virat will have to bat with freedom like he did in the IPL. So my choice would be Virat and Rohit at the top of the order," Sourav Ganguly told Revsportz.

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Rishabh Pant who suffered a horrific car accident in 2022 made a solid comeback to the game during the IPL 2024. Playing for Delhi Capitals, Pant smashed 446 runs with an average of 40.54 and a strike rate of 155.40. Pant also claimed a joint-high 16 dismissals with the gloves during the most recent India Premier League (IPL) season.

The former captain also hailed the wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's ability to smash shots all over the ground and also expressed confidence in the 26-year-old player to perform well in the T20 World Cup 2024.

"He is a very special talent. His keeping is good, but his batting really special. He is capable of picking some great angles in the ground, and that's his USP. Not every player will be able to do that, you see. And that's what makes Pant very important for India. He has worked very very hard to make this comeback and is hungry to do well. I am confident he will make a telling difference," he added.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will be played in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to 29.

In the tournament, India will be aiming to end their ICC trophy drought, having last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, India has reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinal in 2015 and 2019, the title clash of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, T20 WC final in 2014, semifinals in 2016 and 2022 but failed to secure a big ICC trophy.

India will be aiming to win their first T20 WC title since they won the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007 in South Africa. In the last edition held in Australia in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.

India's T20 World Cup 2024 Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

(With ANI Inputs)