AHMEDABAD: Virat Kohli plans to reinvent himself as a Twenty20 opener with an eye on the 20-overs World Cup at home later this year, the India captain said after the team’s series victory against England (partly reported in Sunday’s edition).

Kohli joined vice-captain Rohit Sharma at the top in Saturday’s decider at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Their 94-run opening stand helped India amass 224-2, their highest total against England.

It was only the eighth time in 84 innings that Kohli opened batting, but what worked against the world’s top-ranked team should succeed in the format’s showcase tournament as well, said the 32-year-old.

“I am going to open in the IPL as well,” Kohli, who leads Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, said at the presentation ceremony after India clinched the decider by 36 runs. “I’ve batted at different positions in the past, but I feel we have a very solid middle order, and now it’s about your two best players getting the maximum number of balls in T20 cricket. So I would definitely like to partner Rohit at the top.

“If we have a partnership and we both are set, then you know that one of us is going to cause some serious damage. That’s exactly what we want.”

It also would allow India’s middle-order batsmen to play with much more freedom, said Kohli, who made 80 not out and was adjudged player of the series.

“It augurs well for the team and I would like this to continue, and hopefully continue that form through to the World Cup.”

After losing Jason Roy on the second ball of the innings, Dawid Malan made 68 and Jos Buttler 52 off 34 deliveries. But England could not keep up the chase and finished on 188-8.

Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled Roy for a duck, returned magnificent figures of 2-15 to be named man-of-the-match.

Kohli, who was adjudged man-of-the-series, said the result showed what India, just behind top-ranked England in the world T20 international rankings, can do when they are ‘firing’.

“I think it was a complete game for us, totally outplayed the opposition even with so much dew coming in,” said Kohli.

England captain Eoin Morgan admitted: “India outplayed us in the big moments of the game.” For the second straight match, Morgan won the toss and saw India’s batters surge ahead.

England kept up the chase as long as Malan was in. He passed his first fifty of the series and became the fastest player to reach 1,000 T20I runs, in 24 matches, prompting Kohli to rotate his bowling options.

Kumar sent back Buttler and Thakur struck twice in an over to dismiss Jonny Bairstow, for seven, and Malan as England wilted.

The teams will next play three One-day Inter­nationals in Pune on March 23, 26 and 28.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma b Stokes 64

V. Kohli not out 80

S.A. Yadav c Roy b Rashid 32

H.H. Pandya not out 39

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-6) 9

TOTAL (for two wkts, 20 overs) 224

FALL OF WKTS: 1-94, 2-143.

DID NOT BAT: R.R. Pant, S.S. Iyer, Washington Sundar, S.N. Thakur, B. Kumar, R.D. Chahar, T. Natarajan.

BOWLING: Adil Rashid 4-0-31-1; Archer 4-0-43-0 (1w); Wood 4-0-53-0 (1w); Jordan 4-0-57-0; Curran 1-0-11-0; Stokes 3-0-26-1.

ENGLAND:

J.J. Roy b Kumar 0

J.C. Buttler c Pandya b Kumar 52

D.J. Malan b Thakur 68

J.M. Bairstow c Yadav b Thakur 7

E.J.G. Morgan c sub b Pandya 1

B.A. Stokes c Pant b Natarajan 14

C.J. Jordan c Yadav b Thakur 11

J.C. Archer run out 1

S.M. Curran not out 14

Adil Rashid not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-9, W-11) 20

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 188

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-130, 3-140, 4-142, 5-142, 6-165, 7-168, 8-174.

DID NOT BAT: M.A. Wood.

BOWLING: Kumar 4-0-15-2 (1w); Pandya 4-0-34-1 (4w); Washington Sundar 1-0-13-0; Thakur 4-0-45-3; Natarajan 4-0-39-1; Chahar 3-0-33-0 (3w).

RESULT: India won by 36 runs to win five-match series 3-2.

UMPIRES: N.N. Menon (India) and A.K. Chaudhary (India).

TV UMPIRE: K.N. Anathapadmanabhan (India).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Virat Kohli.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2021