Hayden backs Kohli; Bishop calls Bumrah ‘once in a generation bowler’
The Hindu
Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden on June 19 backed Virat Kohli to come good in the Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup, saying his experience of assessing conditions and different surfaces make him a world-class batter.
Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden on June 19 backed Virat Kohli to come good in the Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup, saying his experience of assessing conditions and different surfaces make him a world-class batter.
Kohli, who was the highest run-getter at this year's IPL with 741 runs, is yet to make a significant contribution in the tournament. He had scores of 1, 4 and 0 in the group stages matches.
"Kohli, in any condition, has been a world-class batter. These venues (Caribbean) where you have to think about the way you construct your innings and think about also the kind of realistic totals that are possible in these different venues," Hayden said on Star Sports Press Room.
"Outside of St Lucia, par scores are in the range of 160-170 and Virat, with all his experience, will be able to work out what to do, like hitting spin towards the windward side, depending on how significant it is.
"Virat is in a really good space, he's had extremely tough conditions and no one would have liked that in the competition. Everyone wants to see these great champions being able to play freely and that's going to be the case and experience counts." Hayden also backed Kohli to continue opening the innings for India during the Super 8 stage.
"During the IPL, I was advocating that if Kohli is going to be in the team, he needs to open. Virat at three, I don't think we get the best out of him. You can't just turn up and blast 250 on these wickets. You need thinking cricketers; it borders on performance during this World Cup.
"You look back at David Warner's performance this World Cup -- in Barbados on a sluggish wicket, he made 30-odd (39 in 16 balls vs England). It was a really well-constructed thirty. It depends on what your benchmark is. Are you looking at 100s, 50s, strike rate?