India need to stick with opening combination of Rohit and Kohli: Brian Lara

Legendary West Indies cricketer Brian Lara feels India should continue with the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli despite the duo not firing at the top of the order in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. Notably, the Men in Blue haven’t had a good opening stand so far in the tournament with star batter Virat Kohli failing to fire at the top of the order. The right-handed batter has scores of 1 (5), 4 (3) and 0 (1) in the three matches so far.

On the other hand, Rohit started the tournament well with a half-century against Ireland (52 off 37) but failed to go big in the next two matches getting dismissed for 13 and 3. However, despite their low scores, Lara suggested the idea to continue opening with the star duo as trying to change it could hamper their playing combination.

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“Definitely, India had the option to play a left-right opening partnership. They went with two great players, two guys who’ve done a great job for India with the bat for their individual franchise as well in terms of the captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. I think they’ve got to stick with it as you just said if you do make changes on top, Virat Kohli has to come in the order a little bit lower and that’s going to upset things there,” said Lara on Star Sports.

Further speaking ahead, the legendary batter backed the duo to score big in the upcoming fixtures.

“I believe that the combination India is having and India has to back the two of them. At some point in time, they’re going to come good with conditions, the batting conditions in the USA were not the very best. I don’t believe you start making changes especially if you’re winning,” he added.

India advance to Super 8 stage

Meanwhile, India qualified to the Super 8 stages after a clinical seven-wicket win over the USA in New York. The Men in Blue first restricted the co-hosts to 110/8 in their allotted 20 overs and later chased down the target in 18.2 overs courtesy of a half-century (50* off 49) from Suryakumar Yadav.

The Rohit Sharma-led side will next face Canada on Saturday, June 15 at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida.