A day after confirming India's opening pair in Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, for the T20I series against England which begins on March 12 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Indian skipper Virat Kohli confirmed that his white-ball deputy will be resting for the first few games of the series.
When asked about the playing XI for the opener, Kohli revealed that Rahul will open alongside Shikhar Dhawan as Rohit will be resting for the first few games.
No Rohit Sharma, he's resting, with KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan the openers. We were looking to do something like this a couple of games into the series, where we bat first and test our bowlers with the dew factor," said Kohli after losing the toss.
Earlier on Thursday, in the pre-game presser, Kohli said, "If Rohit plays, then it's simple. KL (Rahul) and Rohit have been performing consistently at the top of the order for us and those two will start. In a situation, Rohit takes rest and KL has a niggle or something, Shikhi (Dhawan's nickname in team) obviously comes in as the third opener but the starting composition, Rohit and Rahul will be the ones who will start."
England won the toss and opted to bowl first, looking at the dew factor that will coming into play in the second half of the game.
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
