By Shortly after Virat Kohli played a blinder of a knock opening the innings for India in the fifth T20I against England, the India captain, who also is the leader of Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, revealed that he will be opening the innings for RCB in IPL 2021, which starts April 9.
The decision surprised a few, but this time around, the captain was pretty clear about his role in the franchise’s batting. Mike Hesson, the Director of Operations, however, revealed that the decision for Kohli to open was in fact, discussed a while ago.
“Certainly, we talked about it before the auction because that came in our auction planning in terms of how we wanted to structure our lineup, so certainly no surprise there. delighted that he got an opportunity for India to open the other day and show everybody exactly what he’s capable of. We certainly know that but just another reminder for everybody,” Hesson said on ‘Bold Diaries’.
Last year, RCB banked on Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal to open the innings, and while the youngster had a fabulous season, becoming only the second batsman in IPL history to amass over 400 runs in his debut year, the Australia captain returned average numbers, scoring 268 runs from 12 matches. Kohli, on the other hand, has opened the batting in the IPL in 61 innings, scoring 2345 runs at an average of 46.90, scoring five centuries and 15 fifties. Hesson feels Kohli and Padikkal are best suited to solve RCB’s opening conundrum.
