Yashasvi Jaiswal Should Have Opened With Rohit Sharma: Says Former India Cricketer

The Men in Blue are coming into this match after beating Ireland by 8 wickets. Meanwhile, Babar Azam-led Pakistan conceded a disappointing loss against the US in the super-over in their previous game of the marquee event.

Speaking at a special ‘Star Sports Press Room’, Sidhu said that Men in Blue have changed the team combination to make space for Shivam Dube and Axar Patel. (Babar Azam Furious After Haris Rauf Concedes Last Ball Boundary Against USA In T20 World Cup 2024- WATCH)

“Ideally the scenario should have been of the left-right combination, Yashasvi Jaiswal should have opened with Rohit Sharma and Virat to come at number 3 from my point of view. But from a team’s perspective, they have changed the combination because then Shivam Dube and Axar Patel wouldn’t have got the opportunity to play, so they have made this combination for a correct composition where Axar Patel is batting at no. 8, specially in this pitch where bowlers have an advantage,” Sidhu was quoted in a release from Star Sports as saying.

The former cricketer added that if the T20 World Cup 2024 started in West Indies then the Men in Blue would have gone with Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal opening in the match. The 60-year-old added that one cannot expect 200 runs in New York’s pitch.

“If the tournament would have opened in West Indies, then we would have seen Rohit and Yashasvi opening the match, there you wouldn’t have needed the 6th or the 7th bowler. So from this perspective, the combination of Rohit and Virat is important as they both are experienced players and they understand that 1st 6 overs are important and they can gain runs after that. You can’t expect 200 runs in this pitch, 130 or 140 runs would be good, and this combination will work,” he added.

India T20 WC Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Pakistan T20 WC Squad: Babar Azam (C), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan.