Former India batsman VVS Laxman feels that Virat Kohli should express himself with the bat and play with freedom in the upcoming five-match T20I series against England, starting Friday in Motera.
Laxman also felt that Team India have enough depth in their batting lineup for the 32-year-old right hander to play his strokes.
“I feel that Virat Kohli is a class batsman, he’s an outstanding batsman and with depth and quality in the Indian batting line-up, I think he should go and express himself,” Laxman said on Star Sports.
“It’s not necessary for him to play the anchor role, because we know that he’s a stroke player. If he plays with positive intent, if he plays his high percentage shots, not only his strike rate will be high, but his consistency also will be there for everyone to see — he’s a match winner,” he added.
Significantly, Kohli is just 82 runs away from becoming the only batter to amass 3,000 runs in T20 International cricket.
Earlier Laxman had backed KL Rahul to open the Indian innings with Rohit Sharma instead of Shikhar Dhawan.
“It will be a tough question, as far as the selection of the second opener is concerned. There’s no doubt about that because Rohit Sharma is an automatic choice in white ball cricket. I will still go with KL Rahul, because over the last few months and years I think the Indian team management went with KL Rahul as an opening batsman and he has done really well in that position,” Laxman had said.
“Yes, Shikhar Dhawan had a fantastic IPL, the way he batted top of the order, scoring centuries for Delhi capitals and then he’s in tremendous form for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare, where he scored a big 100 in that tournament as well. With KL Rahul as an opening combination you want someone who’s second,” he added.