India opening with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli so Two other players can play, says Harbhajan Singh

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India's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign will have a huge test as they take on Pakistan in the group stage match on Sunday (June 9).

After winning against Ireland in the opening match, team India will be looking to make it two out of two and get their one foot into the Super Eight of the tournament.

Captain Rohit Sharma played a brilliant knock against Ireland in the first match but his opening partner Virat Kohli got dismissed after just 1 run. There have been a lot of talks regarding India's opening pair in the tournament. Many have wanted a left-right combination of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, while some voted for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who won the T20 World Cup in 2007, recently said the reason why India went with Rohit-Virat pair at the top. Despite Harbhajan's preference for Yashasvi-Rohit pair, the former off-spinner revealed the reason behind team management opting for Virat.

"Ideally the scenario should have been of the left-right combination, Yashasvi Jaiswal should have opened with Rohit Sharma and Virat to come at number 3 from my point of view. But from a team's perspective, they have changed the combination because then Shivam Dube and Axar Patel wouldn't have got the opportunity to play, so they have made this combination for a correct composition where Axar Patel is batting at no. 8, specially in this pitch where bowlers have an advantage," Harbhajan Singh said on Star Sports.

As per Harbhajan, India would have opened with Yashasvi Jaiswal had the tournament started in West Indies for India, because of the lack of need for a 6th or 7th bowler in the island countries.

"If the tournament would have opened in West Indies, then we would have seen Rohit and Yashasvi opening the match, there you wouldn't have needed the 6th or the 7th bowler," he added.

The pitches in USA have put the batters in a real challenge as scoring runs have become difficult. As India and Pakistan take on Sunday, the pitch at the Nassau County Stadium in New York is also under scrutiny.