Team India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed that star batsman Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will open for India within the first T20I in opposition to England, which is ready to happen on Friday (March 11) in Ahmedabad.
Kohli confirmed that Rohit and Rahul are India’s first-choice opening pair for the five-match T20I sequence and even highlighted how Rahul has been a constant performer for India within the shortest format of the sport. The Indian skipper additionally stated that Shikhar Dhawan would possibly open if one of many openers is rested for a recreation.
“It’s quite simple, KL and Rohit have been performing at the top of the order for us and those two would start,” Kohli stated on the eve of the primary T20I.
“And if Rohit takes rest or Kl has a niggle or something Shikki (Shikhar Dhawan) obviously comes back as a third opener. The starting composition, Rohit and Rahul will start,” he added.
While Rohit himself has refused to touch upon who would open alongside him, former India batsman VVS Laxman had picked Rahul as the opening companion of the star batsman.
According to the previous batsman, Dhawan — regardless of being in nice contact — can be utilized as a backup opener maintaining in thoughts this 12 months’s T20 World Cup in India.
Speaking on a TV present, Laxman had stated, “It will be a tricky query, as far as the collection of the second opener is worried. There’s little doubt about that as a result of Rohit Sharma is an automated alternative in white-ball cricket. I will nonetheless go with KL Rahul as a result of over the previous couple of months and years I feel the Indian crew administration went with KL Rahul as a gap batsman and he has finished rather well in that place.
“Yes, Shikhar Dhawan had a fantastic IPL, the way he batted at the top of the order, scoring centuries for Delhi Capitals and then he was in tremendous form for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare, where he scored a big 100 in that tournament as well. With KL Rahul as an opening combination, you want someone who’s second. Keeping in mind the T20 World Cup, you have to identify who your openers are going to be there in the World Cup and back them; don’t chop and change. You have someone as experienced as Shikhar Dhawan, who can be the backup opener in case one of these openers Rohit Sharma/KL Rahul gets injured or lose their form,” he added.
Full squads:
India:Â Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Chahar.
England:Â Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
