Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper has put all the speculations to rest regarding the teams’ first-choice openers among Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan in the shortest format of the game ahead of the five-match T20I series against England.
India will lock horns with the Eoin Morgan-led English team in a five-match T20I series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, starting March 12.
Virat Kohli Hints Rohit Sharma And KL Rahul Will Open
Leading into the series, the big debate which arose among Indian fans and experts was around the choice of openers that the home side will play with given the fact that all three contenders in Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul are fit and a part of the squad.
In the past 12-14 months, India hasn’t really faced this conundrum as either one or the other of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan has been injured. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul opened the innings during the 5 match series in New Zealand last winter while it was Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul who did the same against Australia when Rohit Sharma was injured.
Shikhar Dhawan had beefed up his case for the opening slot thanks to a stupendous IPL season last year where he hit back-to-back tons, being the first player to do so.
“If Rohit plays, it’s simple. KL and Rohit have been consistently performing at the top. If either of them takes a rest, Shikhar is the third opener. Rohit and Rahul will start,” said Virat Kohli during the virtual press-conference.
KL Rahul has been India’s best T20I batsman for a while now and skipper Virat Kohli, on the eve of the series-opener, has confirmed that the Punjab Kings skipper will be opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be the reserve opener.
KL Rahul Has Opened With Rohit Sharma In 11 T20Is
KL Rahul, who has scored 663 runs in 17 innings at an average of 44.2.and a strike-rate of 139.58 since July 2019, has opened the innings alongside Rohit Sharma on 11 occasions and the duo have racked up 558 runs at an average of 50.73 with two 50 and one hundred-run stands.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have scored 1743 runs which is the maximum by any pair in 52 innings averaging 33.42 from 2013 to 2019.
Shikhar Dhawan scored 120 runs averaging 40 in 3 ODIs and only 81 runs in 3 T20Is averaging 27 whereas KL Rahul managed 93 runs in 3 ODIs averaging 31 and 81 runs averaging 27 in 3 T20Is in Australia tour. Rohit Sharma didn’t play for being down due to a hamstring injury suffered during IPL 202f0.