“No. By this logic, even Rahul Dravid could..” – Virender Sehwag Shares His Opinion On Virat Kohli As An Opener In T20Is

On 8 September 2022, Virat Kohli was busy playing for India against Afghanistan in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. But, he made that dead rubber lively as he smashed his first ever T20I ton in the match. With this ton, he also ended his century drought after a gap of 1021 days.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma took a rest from that match. Therefore, Virat got the opportunity to open the innings with KL Rahul. After scoring that fantastic hundred, some voices were raised to continue Kohli as an opener in the format ahead of the World Cup. But, former Indian batter, Virender Sehwag shared his disagreement regarding the whole matter.

“No. By this logic, even Rahul Dravid could have been in the opener.” – Virender Sehwag

While speaking on Cricbuzzz, Sehwag said that there should no chance of considering Virat Kohli as an opener for the upcoming matches. He said that a single innings cannot possibly be the reason for the shift in the position altogether. He also shared that players like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar also played some quality knocks while opening in some matches. But, that was not the logic behind making them an opener.

He said: “No. By this logic, even Rahul Dravid could have been in the opener. Sachin Tendulkar could have opened in Tests as well. They have also played big knocks in 1-2 innings as openers. I guess Dravid even scored some 160-170 runs and had remained unbeaten when we forged a 400-run partnership for the opening wicket in a Test. It was just because the captain wasn’t playing, that’s why Kohli opened.”

However, Sehwag heaped praises on Kohli for scoring his 71st international century finally. He also added that now he can go for that 100-century mark after making an end to this long drought. “Now that he has scored a century, I won’t be surprised if this stops at 100 (international centuries). Then, we will see when he gets his 101st.” Virender Sehwag concluded.