There are a lot of questions regarding India’s batting order ahead of their T20 World Cup 2024 opener against Ireland. A lot of speculation has been regarding who will open for India in the tournament. While some want Virat Kohli to open with Rohit Sharma, others want to see a left hand-right hand opening pair with Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden has come up with an out-of-the-box solution on this topic.
Hayden puts Rohit Sharma in middle-order in T20 World Cup
According to the former Aussie opener, India should send Virat Kohli to open with Yashasvi Jaiswal to maintain the left-right combination while Rohit Sharma should bat in the middle-order.
“Rohit is a versatile player and does not shy away from batting away in that middle order. He has a successful record in T20I cricket batting at No. 4 and he can lead the batting group from the early middle order,” Hayden said.
Rohit Sharma in middle-order in T20Is
| Batting Position | Inns | NO | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | 0s | HS | Runs | Avg | S/R |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 60* | 127 | 63.50 | 142.70 |
| 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 79* | 188 | 31.33 | 122.88 |
| 5 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 50* | 87 | 14.50 | 111.54 |
| 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 30* | 72 | 36.00 | 126.32 |
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4* | 7 | 7.00 | 140.00 |
Rohit Sharma has batted in the middle-order on numerous occasions in T20Is before settling down as an opener as the stats above points out. The India captain has played 8 matches in the no. 4 spot where Hayden is suggesting, scoring 188 runs at an average of just over 31 runs. However, his strike rate of under 123 does not sound particularly exciting.
It remains to be seen if India will take a big risk such sending Rohit Sharma in the middle order in such a crucial tournament. However, it is definitely an option India can try out to accommodate all their stars.
