Asia Cup: KL Rahul and Virat Kohli batting together is dangerous for India

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli have taken more than 35 balls to score a 50 in recent times. They have been unable to subscribe Rohit Sharma's and Rahul Dravid's theory of attacking intent and approach

The Indian T20 side post the debacle in the 2021 T20 World Cup has changed drastically. It does not believe in an opener standing at one end while the other batters attack. Its core motto is aggressive intent. However, two batters in the current Indian playing eleven, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been unable to subscribe to that theory.
 
In the last match against minnows Hong Kong, the two batted for 49 balls and yet scored only 56 runs. During that partnership, Rahul was not even scoring at run a ball and eventually got out at 36 off 39 balls. If a batter occupies the crease for 39 balls, which is almost one-third of the entire innings, he is supposed to be scoring at least 140, especially if the wickets are not falling at the other end. However, Rahul was not able to do that.
 
The problem is compounds for India because Rahul is not the only batter doing that. Kohli, who eventually scored 59 not out and was celebrated for scoring a fifty after a long time, also took 44 balls to score those runs. In between them, Kohli and Rahul played 83 balls, which is almost two-thirds of the entire overs in an innings and scored only 95 runs. If Suryakumar Yadav hadn’t played the unbeaten 26-ball 68-run innings, India would have been struggling to even get past 160 against a team like Hong Kong.
 
Had it been just one game in a 100, the issue could have still been tolerated. But both Rahul and Kohli have been used to batting like this. Post-2019, Rahul has always played at least 35 balls to get to a 50 (except in two innings against Scotland and New Zealand). Thus the problem is not new. Even in IPL, it was his slowness at the start, both for Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants that caused them many games. Kohli on other hand has not been very fluent either.
 
Kohli has not been in form himself. But in the two fifties that he has scored past the T20 World Cup debacle, he has taken more than 40 balls to reach there. Thus, both Rahul and Kohli are not playing to the template and causing other players to take unnecessary risks.
 
It is high time India decided to focus on Deepak Hooda who is going through the form of his life. The Rajasthan cricketer has scored 274 runs sat an average of 54 and a strike rate of more than 160 in nine T20Is and therefore deserves a chance at the big stage before the World Cup hits India again and they are found lacking in intent once again.