Former Zimbabwe captain and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower has picked out five players in the current T20I squad who can fill Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's shoes. The legendary duo retired from the format following T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. Flower backed Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag to strengthen the batting lineup during the transition phase.
Before Zimbabwe beat India by 13 runs in the first T20I of the five-T20I series, Flower likened Gill’s batting style to Kohli.
"If I put my IPL coaching hat on, then I'll have to keep a keen watch on the players," Flower told the Times of India. “(Yashasvi) Jaiswal didn't play a single match in the T20 World Cup but he is an incredible option. Shubman Gill, by his standards, had a quiet IPL but he looks a very intelligent player. He plays in a similar way to Virat Kohli,.”.
"I'm looking forward to Abhishek Sharma performing. I really like the look of Dhruv Jurel. Watching him in the Test series against England, he did brilliantly. Riyan Parag has the swagger that you need in international cricket," he added.
Flower was surprise by Kohli's retirement from T20Is
Flower revealed that he did not think Kohli would retire from T20Is. The 35-year-old won the orange cap in IPL 2024 and opened the innings alongside Rohit in T20 World Cup 2024. The RCB coach also lauded Kohli for his sense of humour.
"I hadn't thought about it (Kohli's retirement). I was a little surprised. I really enjoyed working with Virat in the IPL last season. I have utmost respect for him, obviously as a player but also the way he supported Faf du Plessis and myself and Mo Bopat, the director of cricket," he said
"He is a brilliant role model. He is an outstanding professional sportsperson. He looks after himself really well. He is disciplined without being robotic. He laughs and has fun, has a cheeky sense of humor and takes the mickey out of people. He always mixes in with team gatherings and he is very approachable. He has a very good cricket brain and can think out of the box too,"the 56-year-old added.
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