Mumbai Indians captain and Team India vice-captain Rohit Sharma confirmed on Tuesday that he will open the batting in the entire IPL 2019 season.
Rohit, who came at No.4 mostly last season, thus, allowing Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav to bat at the top, said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the 2019 World Cup and his familiarity with the position.
"In the past, I have batted in the middle-order and opened also in a few games. This year I will open the batting in all the games, that's for sure," said Rohit ahead of MI's season opener in Mumbai on March 24.
"Yes, the World Cup is one of the factors, but also while keeping in mind that this is where I bat for India and that's where I have got a lot of my success of late," he added.
The 30-year-old said he has the freedom to take the decision to bat at the top as he has an experienced match-winner like Yuvraj Singh to play the role he had played in the previous seasons.
According to the MI skipper, there is also Siddesh Lad, a consistent scorer for Mumbai in domestic cricket, to fill in the number four slot.
Zaheer felt that IPL form would count towards selection for a few slots in India's World Cup squad.
"Look at the past. Has IPL helped Indian selectors in identifying players. The answer is - yes. Has someone been picked on IPL performance - the answer is again yes. I am sure the form in IPL will matter for grabbing those available spots," he said
(With inputs from PTI)
