Lara names India's top three for WC, calls Kohli-Rohit opening pair 'tempting'

Legendary Brian Lara asserted that Virat Kohlis value transcends cold numbers and the West Indian virtuoso has little doubt that the star batter should be a part of Indias T20 World Cup squadKohli stood in the eye of a social media storm after making a 67ball hundred for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Rajasthan Royals in their IPL 2024 match at Jaipur which was the joint slowest hundred in the competition alongside Manish Pandeys century in 2009The strikerate depends on position and for an opener strikerate of 130140 is pretty alright But if you are coming in the middleorder then you may be required to hit at 150 or 160 As you have seen in this IPL batsmen are hitting at 200 in the latter part of an innings But an opener like Kohli always has the chance of starting at 130 bat through the overs and finish at 160 or even higher which is alright Lara said on Monday during the Star Sports Press Room which was also attended by former India batter Ambati RayuduBut if you ask me Indias top three in the World Cup should be Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill irrespective of all these And for RCB it should not be about one person as it has to be a team effort said LaraThe Trinidadian said opening the innings with Kohli and Rohit in the T20 World Cup 2024 could be a tempting option but strongly advocated India pairing a younger name with the experienced player at the pole positionI think Rohit and Virat going as openers to the West Indies for WC will serve India very well Though I think that you should have some youthful punch in the opening One of the younger players showing their mettle and having one of those experienced players shepherd the innings in the middleorder Having that whole experience up front it could have a negative effect if they get dismissed early so I will use one at top but use the other at No 3 said the lefthanderThat brought up the topic of Yashasvi Jaiswals lean patch for the Rajasthan outfit Jaiswal entered this IPL after a stunning Test series against England but he has so far failed to contribute anything worthwhile The lefthander has made just 39 runs from four matches averaging a meagre 975Lara felt that the young star might be a bit anxious because of the impending team selection for the T20 World Cup 2024He had a very very special Test series for India earlier this year But I think he is a bit too anxious about selection It reflects in batting as there is not a lot of body or foot movement He certainly has the ability but he is rushing to play the shots said LaraThe 54yearold West Indian who has scored upwards of 20000 international runs said Jaiswal should focus on the task at handIt is quite natural that the young players like Jaiswal or Gill or Abhishek Sharma or Riyan Parag are a bit anxious They know that if they score runs here they can get into Indias World Cup team But you need to separate those two thoughts I had struggled with that in my playing days My advice to them is to focus on the IPL do your best to get runs and the World Cup selection will take care of itselfiquest he added