'Indian openers should be Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma' - Irfan Pathan backs southpaw to open at T20 World Cup 2024

It has been an ongoing debate around the opening pair for Team India at the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. While Rohit Sharma will remain as the default opener for the team, there has been much gung-ho around his partner. With the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan hitting form lately in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024, the grapevine is abuzz with more speculations.

Several cricket pundits have also pushed forward the name of Virat Kohli for the opening role. For the unversed, Kohli has been opening the innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2024. Former Indian pacer, Irfan Pathan, has opined on the much talked about topic. The all-rounder has sealed his opinion with Jaiswal's name in the envelope.

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“See, as far as I'm concerned, Indian openers should be Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma, purely because of the right-hand and left-hand combination. Don't forget that Yashasvi Jaiswal's international strike rate is 160 and you need that, you need that firepower. If Virat opens up the batting, what happens is that it will allow the combination of 11 to be in a certain way, which you want. If that happens, you might see Shivam Dubey playing, if he's there in the squad. You might see guys like Rinku Singh in the playing 11 as well. But if Virat bats at number three, that might not happen. So that's a big challenge,” Pathan said on Star Sports Press Room Show Ticket to World Cup.

Maybe have Jaiswal as a sixth bowler: Pathan

India has been grappling with the option of not having a sixth bowler at the marquee events. Though the management addressed the issue during World Cup 2023, things fell apart after Hardik Pandya was injured midway. Pathan emphasised that Jaiswal bowling in the nets comes as a plus point for addressing the aforementioned issue.

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“The other thing, if Yashasvi Jaiswal is playing, what can happen as he's actually been bowling regularly in the nets. So what you can do is you can actually play proper five bowlers and maybe have him as a sixth bowler, as an option to keep it. Otherwise, if you look at the batting order, no one bowls. No one bowls in top six and that's the biggest challenge what we have as Indian cricket. And that's what we need to consider that as well. So for me, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma and then Virat bats at number three,” he added.