Brett Lee names Rohit Sharma’s opening partner for the 2023 ODI World Cup

The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup is the upcoming mega project in the world of cricket. Many teams are focusing on building a top quality squad to compete in the global showpiece, which will be held in India next year.

As for the last three 50-overs World Cups, the host team has won it on every occasion – India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 – so no doubt the pressure will be on Team India to continue the trend and finally end their ICC title drought.

Notably, India last won an ICC title way back in 2013 when they were under MS Dhoni, the Men in Blue had won the Champions Trophy. Given the current side, the biggest concern is the batting unit, especially openers. The trio of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t made much of an impression in the recent past, and with youngsters knocking on the door after their impressive performances, the openers are under fire.

As Rohit is the captain of Team India, his place is certain as the side’s opener, and the competition will be for his partner’s role, where many contenders are lining up. Rahul and Dhawan have both underperformed and their place is in doubt, especially after the consistent shows of Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan.

Not to mention, Kishan had recently broken a stunning double century, making it almost impossible for the selectors to ignore him. Speaking of the same former Australian cricketer, Brett Lee has supported Kishan as India’s first-choice opener in the upcoming World Cup. Lee called Kishan the future of Indian cricket before advising the youngster not to get carried away and focus on achieving much bigger goals.

“With this deadly double, Ishan has made a strong claim to opening for India in the ODI World Cup at home in 2023. Will this happen? I do not know. Does it have to happen? Hell yes, it should. The man just scored the fastest 200 in ODI history. But if he can show consistency, keep fit and be present in the coming months, he should be a good opener for India at the World Cup. Lee said on his official YouTube channel.

“Back Ishan to make it in the World Cup squad with an eye to the future, and it’s clear he’d be in a daze after that knock as he should be. However, a word of caution. Too much praise had led to cobwebs in the head. So my advice to Ishan Kishan would be… forget the milestone, forget the double hundred as soon as possible. There are bigger milestones to reach and higher peaks to scale. Ishan Kishan needs to get the euphoria of his double hundred just focus on the process, keep fit and keep hitting big runs,” he added.