Kohli has to be in India's playing XI, Suryakumar should bat at No.3: Brian Lara on T20 World Cup 2024

Batting great Brian Lara has urged the Team India management to play Suryakumar Yadav in the top three at the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. India have picked Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli in the squad and they are very much likely to play in the top three with SKY coming in at No.4.

But Lara feels that No.3 is the best batting slot for Suryakumar

“My one advice, and I don’t know if you’re going to like it or not, but SKY has to bat at three. He just has to bat at three. He is one of the greatest T20 players in the game. And you speak to players like Sir Viv, and he will tell you he used to want to get out there in the middle,” Lara said in an interaction with PTI.

“And I feel that that’s the same thing with SKY. So, get in on it as quickly as possible. He’s not an opener, get him out there and if he can bat for 10-15 overs, you know what’s going to happen.

“He’s going to put you in an unassailable position if you bat him first, or he’s going to win the game if he’s batting second. And then let everybody sort of position themselves outside of that, but a good structure is important,” he added.

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Lara, however, added that Virat Kohli, who has been recently criticised for his strike rate, has to be a part of the playing XI.

“You have to have a player like Virat in the playing eleven,” Lara said.

The West Indian cricket legend picked India and West Indies as the two finalists for the T20 World Cup, saying that such a summit clash will “make up” for the disastrous 2007 ODI World Cup when India were knocked out from the group stage, resulting in a tournament that lost its popularity after Men in Blue’s exit.

“India and West Indies final is going to make up for so much wrong that has happened in the past. India missing out in 2007 in second round, that killed us in the Caribbean. We don’t want that to happen again. So, India and West Indies in the final and may the best team win,” he said.

Read: ‘Rohit Sharma deserves a World Cup trophy’

Team India’s squad includes four spinners – Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja – but Lara feels only two can be fitted into a playing XI.

“In terms of spinners, I don’t want to dig too deep into having four spinners because I don’t think you’re going to play four spinners. But I like the fact that Chahal is there. He is not just an IPL star. You look at him, oh, you look at the brains that he put behind the ball, the deliveries, he’s out-thinking the batter.

“And also, Kuldeep. So, I see those guys are guys who are going to get wickets for you, not just look to restrain the battle or scared to bowl an attacking delivery.”