You might see Virat Kohli open the innings in Asia Cup in KL Rahul’s absence – Parthiv Patel

Former Indian wicket-keeper batter Parthiv Patel has predicted that Virat Kohli could open the innings in Asia Cup if KL Rahul fails to recover. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are expected to open the innings for India in the T20 World Cup. However, Rahul hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the IPL.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli isn’t in the best of forms and the team’s think tank will want their talisman to return to his best before the T20I showpiece. Kohli has opened the innings before in T20I cricket and it will be interesting to note his batting position in the Asia Cup.

Kohli has opened in eight T20I innings in which he has scored 278 runs at an average of 39.71. Furthermore, Kohli has the experience of opening the innings while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. The talisman had opened the innings in the 2016 edition and scored 973 runs, including four centuries.

“There is no doubt about Virat Kohli’s abilities. It is just about the form, it is just about which position you want him to play. That is why the Asia Cup becomes very crucial. Not for him, just for India’s point of view also whether they get the right combination or not,” Parthiv told Cricbuzz.

“I keep saying about the combination because that would be the key. You might just see Virat Kohli open in the Asia Cup because KL Rahul is not fit, as of now. And India has tried a lot of other openers. They have tried Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav in this series,” added Parthiv.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul had scored 616 runs in 15 matches while leading Lucknow Super Giant in the IPL 2022. He was expected to lead the team in the five-match series against South Africa but he was ruled out with a groin injury. Subsequently, Rahul underwent Sports Hernia surgery in Germany and then missed out in the series against West Indies after testing positive for Covid-19.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, was rested for the West Indies series after having a ordinary run in England. Kohli has also been rested for Zimbabwe ODIs.

India will begin their Asia Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on 28th August at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.