No confusion on KL Rahul's role in T20 World Cup

Virat Kohli’s century, while opening the innings against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, might have triggered speculations of his possible elevation as opener in the upcoming T20 World Cup. But for Rohit Sharma, Virat remains the third opener and it will be KL Rahul partnering him at the top of the order during the showpiece event, starting October 16 in Australia. For quite some time, KL Rahul’s tempered-down approach in T20 format has attracted criticism and Kohli’s return to form with his first international century in three years, has only added fuel to fire to the debate on the opening slot. However, in a media interaction ahead of the three-match T20I series against Australia starting here on Tuesday, Rohit said that there’s no confusion on the Karnataka right-hander’s role as he is a “very important player for India.”

“I don’t think we are going to experiment. KL Rahul is going to be our opener for sure. His performance for India has always gone unnoticed. One or two bad games don’t overshadow his past records. We know what KL brings to the table, his presence at top is very crucial for us,” he said. “I want to make it clear to everyone that we have absolute clarity on this and kya khichdi pak rahi hai we know it very well. There is no confusion,” the skipper said. Rohit, however, did not rule out chances of Kohli being promoted to the opener’s role in some of the matches that India played ahead of the T20 World Cup. The Australia series will be followed by three games against touring South Africa from September 28 to October 4. “I had a word with Rahul Dravid and we have decided that we might have to open with Virat in a few matches. We have seen that in the last match and we are happy,” said Rohit. “It is always