The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has confirmed that KL Rahul will open the innings with veteran batsman Rohit Sharma in the upcoming five-match T20I series against England.

Rohit has been in sublime form in the Test fold as he had scored 345 runs in the four-Test matches against England whereas Rahul has done well in the shortest format of the game.

Thus, Shikhar Dhawan will be the third opener of the team. Kohli confirmed that Dhawan will play if either Rohit or Rahul has a niggle and if they take a rest. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul had opened the innings against Australia in the three-match T20I series. Both of them had scored 81 runs in that series.

Rohit had missed the limited-overs leg against Australia due to a hamstring injury, which he had suffered in the Indian Premier League 2020.

Rohit is known to take his time in the initial phase of his innings whereas Rahul is known to hit the ground running. Rohit has a strike rate of 138.79 in the T20I format while Rahul strikes his runs at 144.92. Thus, both of them are expected to complement each other.

“If Rohit (Sharma) plays, it’s simple. KL (Rahul) and Rohit have done well for us consistently. If either of them takes rest, Shikhar is the third opener. Rohit and Rahul will start against England,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference.

Kohli also added that the batsmen will be seen playing with more freedom in the upcoming T20I series as they have a better batting depth as compared to the past.

“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 free with our approach from this series onwards,” Kohli said.

Both teams will look to get off to a good start and the upcoming T20I series will be a perfect opportunity to prepare for the T20 World Cup, which will take place in India later in the year.

The first T20I will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad today.