In the current IPL season, Virat Kohli of New Delhi has been a tremendous opener. However, according to his good friend AB de Villiers, the Indian ace would be better off batting at number three in the USA and Caribbean for the forthcoming T20 World Cup.
For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kohli has scored 708 runs at a strike rate of 150 or higher so far this season, dispelling doubts from those who had questioned his intentions earlier in the tournament when he faced spinners in the middle overs.
Although Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal are a formidable right-left opening combination, Kohli may be asked to open in the ICC event starting on June 1 to make room for Suryakumar Yadav at number three.
De Villiers, though, believes it is not a smart idea for the former captain of India to open.
"I feel he's a number three batsman and that's where he's most impactful. He's almost like the captain of the batting team everywhere he goes. He keeps the calmness and the composure within the batting unit," the South African great told PTI in a select media interaction arranged by JioCinema on Wednesday.
"I know Virat himself really enjoys opening, which is great. You've got to respect that from a man who's played the game for many years. He understands his game really well and he understands what he wants out of the game as well.”
"But if I was playing a TV game, Xbox, he would come in at number three in my team. I feel there's too much risk in those first couple of overs to go and ask Virat to take the game on, to hit the ball in the air. All I want him to do is to bat between overs 4 and 16-17, somewhere there. "I feel that's where he's best in the world by a country mile and that's where he's most impactful," he commented.