ENG vs IND: Graeme Swann wants India to open with Virat Kohli, leave out Ishan Kishan

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann wants Virat Kohli to open for India instead of Ishan in the second  T20I against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on July 9, Saturday, with Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav to follow. He reasoned that a player like Kohli should not come in at number three because he would not score quickly straight away after coming to bat.

Kohli was rested for the first T20I and is expected to be back for the second and third T20Is. India’s top three for the first match were Rohit, Kishan, and Hooda, followed by Yadav at number four. Except for Kishan, all batters were among the runs and their fearless approach was lauded by one and all. 

“As I see it here, I see it fairly obviously, if Virat Kohli comes in, he opens the batting instead of Kishan,” said Swann on Sony Sports. “That’s what I would do but I have got nothing to do with the Indian selections,” he added. 

If Rohit is batting well, Virat Kohli will do the same: Graeme Swann

“When you have got a player as good as Virat, you don’t want him batting No. 3 in the middle overs because he is not going to score as quickly as SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) or Hooda when they first come in, that’s not his game,” added the former England spinner. “If Rohit is batting so well at the other end and scoring quickly, Virat will follow and do the same thing. Imagine Kohli and Sharma scoring heavily at the top, then Hooda and SKY coming in,” he further said. 

The last time Kohli opened for India was in March 2021 in Ahmedabad, along with Rohit, where he smashed an unbeaten 80 runs off 52 balls. Yadav batted at number three in that match, which India won by 36 runs, defending a target of 225. In the first T20I in Southampton, Rohit was dismissed for 24 and Kishan for eight. Hooda scored 33 off 17 balls and Yadav scored 39 off 19 balls. All-rounder Hardik Pandya was the top scorer with 51 off 33 balls. India finished with 198 for the loss of eight wickets, subsequently winning the clash by 50 runs.

Among the England openers, Jos Buttler was dismissed for a first-ball duck, and Jason Roy was out for four runs off 16 balls. All-rounder Moeen Ali top-scored with 36 runs off 20 balls, and Chris Jordan stayed unbeaten on 26 off 17 balls. England were bowled out for 148 runs in 19.3 overs, as India take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.