Should Kohli Open Against Ireland?

Will India open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli against Ireland? Will they go in with four spinners?

There isn't the usual hype about the T20 World Cup this time around.

India, always the big favourites going into any World Cup, don't exude the same confidence this time around. Most of their players are not in top form and many of them looked quite jaded in the last couple of weeks of the IPL.

The usual swagger and confidence seems to be missing as some of the top Indian stars didn't enjoy a great showing in IPL 2024 recently.

The fact that none of the World Cup bound players featured in the IPL 2024 final recently was a telling statement. Except for Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube, the rest of the players were quite inconsistent with their form in the IPL.

Captain Rohit Sharma's patchy form is a major worry going into the World Cup but his deputy Hardik Pandya's form with both bat and ball has been even worse.

Kohli's form though is a big quandary for the Indians. His 741 runs in the IPL at a strike rate of 154 came as an opener for RCB which has forced the team management to consider him for the same position in the T20 World Cup too. That could force one of either Rohit or Yashasvi Jaiswal -- both specialist openers -- to drop down the order to accommodate Kohli.

Kohli has batted at No. 3 for most of his T20 International career for India, scoring 276 runs in 80 innings at a strike rate of 135, but his record as opener is even better with 400 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.

On the other hand, India's regular opener Rohit didn't have a great IPL. Apart from a century and a fifty, Rohit didn't do much with the bat and fell for single digit scores five times. In fact, he fell to spin six times in IPL 2024, struggling against the spinners at a strike rate of 127.

The same was the story with his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, who also managed just a century and a fifty in 16 games for Rajasthan Royals this season.

So that leaves the team management with the difficult choice of whether to continue with openers Rohit and Jaiswal or promote Kohli to open the innings. Former India batter Wasim Jaffer has suggested that Kohli should open with Jaiswal, while Rohit could bat at No. 3 or 4.

Even Head Coach Rahul Dravid was non-committal.

'We have got options, so we are obviously not going to reveal our cards just yet, but certainly we have got options. We have Rohit and Jaiswal and Virat opened in the IPL as well,' he said on Monday.

'We picked the team keeping in mind that we have three options and we could pick and choose what we wanted depending on the conditions and kind of combination we go into these games with.'

Suryakumar Yadav, who missed the first few games of the IPL due to injury, did well to hit 345 runs in 11 games at a strike rate of 167 but he also was not his usual consistent self as he fell for ducks thrice along with three knocks of under 20.

The warm-up match against Bangladesh did solve a few selection issues for India. Rishabh Pant has sealed his place as the wicket-keeper after stroking 53 from 32 balls ahead of Sanju Samson, who failed after being asked to open.

Pandya's 40 not out from 23 balls during which he hit four sixes and two fours in the closing stages was a big relief for the team management but his bowling still looks rusty. He will surely start ahead of Shivam Dube, who played a struggling knock of 14 from 16 balls in the practice game, but did well to take a couple of wickets with the ball.

In the absence of a finisher in the lower order of the quality of Rinku Singh, India will need Suryakumar to last until the end overs as he is capable of hitting the boundaries in the death overs. Hardik did struggle with the bat for Mumbai Indians, managing just 216 runs from 14 games without a single fifty but his timely knock in the practice game should be a big boost.

The bowling unit also put in a confidence-boosting performance in the practice match just days ahead of the T20 World Cup. Mohammed Siraj with an economy rate of 9.18 and Arshdeep Singh with an economy rate of 10.03 struggled to contain the flow of runs, but they fared well with the ball in New York.

Arshdeep got the new ball to swing, taking 2/12 in three overs, while Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah took a wicket each.

The spin quarter of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal didn't have a good finish to the IPL.

Wrist spinners Kuldeep and Chahal both managed just five wickets in their last four games in IPL 2024, while Jadeja went wicketless in four out of his last five games and Axar never bagged more than two wickets in a match throughout the season.

Kuldeep and Jadeja went wicketless against Bangladesh, while Axar took 1/10 in two overs but Chahal was not used which he means he might not be in the running for the opening game against Ireland.

India haven't made it to the final of the World T20 final in the last 10 years. They made it to the semi-finals in 2016 and 2022, while crashing out in the group stages in 2021.

India have an easy opening game against Ireland, who also struggled with the bat in their warm-up match against Sri Lanka as they folded 122 after being set 164 for victory. The Indians will be hoping to tick all the boxes against Ireland before they face Pakistan in the all-important second game on Sunday.

The drop-in pitch at the Nassau county international cricket stadium in New York looked quite testing in the practice game, with pacers and spinners all getting help. Batting became really difficult in the second innings as Bangladesh crashed for 122 with spinners get some good assistance.

Monday's match between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the same venue saw a low-scoring contest. Sri Lanka were shot out for 77 before South Africa also struggled with the bat, securing a six wicket victory in 16.2 overs.

It will be interesting to see what kind of pitch is prepared for the India-Ireland match but looking at the early games, spin will certainly play a part.

India might be tempted to include three frontline spinners including all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, which will ensure that their batting depth is not affected. Or they could have Hardik Pandya play the role of the second seamer, which could include Shivam Dube in the finisher's role or a fourth spinner if the conditions are such.

India haven't lost a single T20 Internationals against Ireland, winning all seven games played against the Irish, and they will be confident of maintaining that record on Wednesday.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.

Who do you think should be part of the Indian team for the opening match against Ireland?

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