ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Virender Sehwag excludes Virat Kohli from his top-order picks

With opener Ishan Kishan’s recent surge in form and Virat Kohli’s slump, legendary former Indian explosive opener Virender Sehwag picked the former in his top three batters for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 ahead of the former captain. With some outstanding performance in recent times, Kishan has forced his candidature for the T20 World Cup. The Mumbai Indians (MI) star recently scored 206 runs in five games, including two half-centuries, against South Africa at home. In the opening match of the Twenty20 International (T20I) series against Ireland on Sunday, hampered by rain, the left-handed opener hit 26 in 11 balls.

Kishan’s recent form has seen him climb to sixth in the ICC T20 batter rankings, the highest-ranked Indian on the list. He became the second-youngest and fastest player to reach 500 runs in the game’s shortest version with his explosive knock on Sunday. He was a member of India’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad, but he got to play only a match, as the Men in Blue suffered a forgettable group stage exit.

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A point of emphasis in Sehwag’s choice of top three was a left-hand-right-hand opening pair, with Kishan partnered with one of Rahul or Rohit. In his recent interaction, Sehwag told Sony Sports, “India has options aplenty for hard hitters in T20s. However, I would vouch for Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and KL Rahul as the top three batters for the World Cup in Australia. The right-hand and left-hand combination of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, or for that matter, Ishan and KL Rahul, could be quite interesting for the World T20.”