Former Indian all-rounder Sanjay Bangar feels Virat Kohli will open the innings for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t play the warm-up match against Bangladesh on Saturday, which India went on to win by 60 runs. 

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson opened the innings against the Tigers. Rohit also confirmed that Virat Kohli was rested for the warm-up match.

Virat Kohli was once again at his absolute best for RCB, scoring 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69 in IPL 2024. Kohli ended the tournament as the highest run-getter and bagged the Orange Cap award. Thus, he played an instrumental role in taking RCB to the playoffs.

“I feel the team has decided to go in the direction that Yashasvi Jaiswal will probably not play the first match. If Yashasvi Jaiswal was in their plans, they would have played him in this match. Since they have not played him, it’s obvious Virat Kohli will open,” Sanjay Bangar said on Star Sports.

“They are quality players. So it’s not necessary that they can’t score runs against left-arm spinners. They have scored a lot of runs. The way the surface has played also tells you how the team would think. There is no doubt that Virat’s numbers will be good at whichever position you play him,” Bangar responded.

On the other hand, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar added that Kohli won’t be fully used if he bats at one down. Kohli opened the innings with Faf du Plessis in the IPL but has mostly batted at number three for the national team.

“I believe if the team has picked Virat Kohli, he won’t be used fully if he plays at No. 3, and there will be a lot of pressure on Virat Kohli at No. 3, so he will open. Rishabh Pant came at No. 3 today but I don’t know whether he will come there in the actual match,” he said.