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Dhawan, Rahul or Rohit ? Virat Kohli confirms opening combination for India in T20I series vs England

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Mar 11, 2021, 05:47 PM IST
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Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will start as the openers for Team India in the impending five-match T20I series against England, starting from March 12 in Ahmedabad.  

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will start as the openers for Team India in the impending five-match T20I series against England, starting from March 12 in Ahmedabad.  

Addressing a pre-match press conference, Kohli said that Rahul and Rohit have been batting well together in the shortest format of the game. The Indian skipper further said that veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan is the back-up to Rohit and Rahul in case of an injury. 

When asked whether there are chances of Dhawan, Rohit and Rahul playing together, Kohli said: “I don't think so.” 

The Indian skipper continued: “It's quite simple, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have done well for us consistently. Shikhar Dhawan is the back-up, our starting composition will be Rohit and KL for this series.” 

Kohli further said that India will look to play more expressive cricket in the shortest format of the game while adding new faces have been added in the squad just to address the issue of sometimes being too cautious. 

“We want to play free cricket, we have explosive batsmen in the team now. That's exactly what we are trying to address. This time around you will see players bat more freely. I see us being much freer with our approach from this series onwards,” Kohli said. 

The five-T20I series between India and England is set to start from Friday at the world’s largest cricket stadium – Narendra Modi Stadium – in Ahmedabad. The four-Test series between the two sides was won by India as they hammered the Joe Root-led outfit 3-1 to continue their home domination.