Sri Lanka Must Bring India’s Kohli-Rohit T20 World Cup Winning Mantra For Glory After 12 Years

Kusal Mendis & Pathum Nissanka (R) and Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli (L) (Source: AFP)

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two such names in cricket who could always be in the news, even when one of them is sitting in the chair enjoying a beautiful movie. Yesterday’s India horror versus South Africa in Ahmedabad was the highlight, but there is Sri Lanka as well, who must take lessons from what they did in the past.

Amid little expectations coming to the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka left everyone in pure shock with a hat-trick of victories in the competition. The co-hosts, who suffered a 3-0 whitewash at home against England during the T20 World Cup build-up days, kept their 100% win record intact against Ireland, Oman and Australia.

No wonder the Australia fixture brought everyone’s attention, particularly because of the way they made the 2023 ODI World Cup champions look helpless on the field.

However, things went south afterwards, as Zimbabwe and England ensured the Lankan side could not be termed as an unstoppable force. In fact, they have plenty of areas to look forward to, of which the opening pair could possibly be the most important one.

The Kamil Mishara Experiment Not Working

With Pathum Nissanka from one end, Sri Lanka went to open alongside Kamil Mishara in both ODIs and T20Is in recent times. However, the experiment did not work at all, as Mishara had only two 25+ scores in his last 10 white-ball outings, including a 30-ball 36 (in T20I) and a 37-ball 27 (in ODI).

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In fact, Mishara’s performance was critically slammed by Kumar Sangakkara, who was visibly frustrated after the batting performance they had put against England. Moreover, his T20I numbers are not particularly impressive, making him a liability that is often overlooked.

[Kamil Mishara in T20Is]

Kusal Perera Is Not The Same Old 'Gold' Anymore

Looking at Mishara’s recent struggles, Sri Lanka gave Kusal Perera two opportunities to fix the issue. However, he failed to capitalise on the chances against Zimbabwe and Australia, although Perera got off to a brisk start (14-ball 22) against the latter side.

Perera had his time in T20Is in the past, with the best year in T20Is he enjoyed was 2018. Back then, he made 207 runs across five outings, with a strike rate of 156.81. However, he is no longer the beast he used to be in the format, as the numbers speak for themselves.

[Kusal Perera in last three years in T20Is]

[Kusal Mendis in T20Is]

The Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma Winning Method For Sri Lanka

So, how are Kohli and Rohit connected in Sri Lanka’s opening struggles? Let’s rewind the clock to what happened with India in the T20 World Cup 2024. Back then and still is, Rohit and Kohli are India’s highest run-getters in T20Is. The thumb rule of the T20 format is simple: if you have two best batters in your lineup who have scored a plethora of runs and can bat at the top of the order, you start with them and see the results.

[Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma Stats In T20 World Cup 2024/ Kohli made 76 runs in the final]

Rohit and Kohli made them work, and one of them stood up when it mattered. Sri Lanka, too, must give a chance to two of their most reliable batters to kick off the proceedings. At least, that would not allow them to have a complaint in their bag. The rest, of course, depends on how they perform as a collective.

Will it be enough to bring back the T20 World Cup glory, which they enjoyed way back in 2014? It might still be in doubt, but the best possible way to approach it is to do what must be done without any second thoughts.

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