Rohit Sharma is resting for the first couple of games, said India skipper Virat Kohli after losing the toss in the first T20I against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"Probably would have bowled first as well. Dew is going to be a massive factor in the second half. Got to get into the game with the ball and restrict them. We were planning to do things like batting first in these conditions where bowling in the dew becomes a factor. It's a good way to prepare for the World Cup. The next few months will be important from a team environment," said the skipper at the toss.
Rishabh Pant has been assigned wicketkeeping duties and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also returned to the T20I set-up. Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel are also a part of the Playing XI.
Meanwhile, England captain Eoin Morgan said that the visitors have to be smarter for staging a turnaround in the shorter format.
"The opportunity to play in India against a very strong side with the World Cup later this year, we're really excited. The key is to evolve in our game. Five T20Is at this ground, it's going to turn at some stage and we have to be smarter. That's one aspect of our game that we're trying to evolve," he said.
Earlier, Kohli had said that the Rahul-Dhawan pair will start if Rohit takes a rest in the T20I series opener. "KL and Rohit have been consistently performing at the top of the order for us, and those two will start. If Rohit takes rest, or KL has a niggle or something, then Shikhi (Shikhar Dhawan) obviously comes back.
"He comes in as the third opener. But the starting composition, Rohit and Rahul will be the ones who will start, "Kohli said at a virtual press conference.
The T20I series is the first of India's preparatory series this year leading up to the World T20 that will be held in India in October-November.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal
England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
