Rohit and Rahul will be the team’s opening combination in T20s

India square-off against well-rounded England in the first match at Motera today.

Ahmedabad: A blend of favourable results in the present and finding the perfect combination for the near future will be India’s main endeavour when they square off against a well-rounded England in a five-match T20 International series starting here on Friday.

For skipper Virat Kohli, the primary aim will be to get an idea of his core group of players going into the ICC T20 World Cup in October. And he couldn’t have hoped for a better opposition than a world-class English white-ball side under Eoin Morgan, ready to be way more challenging on flatter tracks which promise a run-feast.

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“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to play in conditions where we will be playing the World Cup,” England’s explosive batsman-keeper Jos Buttler had recently said, shrugging off the debacle that was the Test series.

For Indian vice-captain Rohit Sharma, it’s all about focussing on the present.

“If we focus on the present, the future will take care of itself. It’s a long series and it’s important to see where we stand as a team and individual,” Rohit said.

While there are more advantages of having multiple options, fashionably described as a “happy headache” for any captain, there are a few pitfalls that come with such a situation. The Indian team understands this fully well, having burnt its hands during the 2019 World Cup.

Kohli made it clear on Thursday that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will be the team’s opening combination in T20 cricket. “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,”

Kohli was unambiguous in his reply that the seasoned Shikhar Dhawan will have to wait. “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.”

However, Kohli was trifle annoyed with a question on India’s No.1 Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s chances of making a comeback looking at his impressive IPL form last time when he got some big names including the India captain cheaply. “Washington has been doing really well for us. So you cannot have two players of the same discipline, playing in one spot. So (this will not happen) unless Washy has drastically horrible season and things go south for him,”

Kohli said about the young all-rounder. Washington has an impressive economy rate of less than 7 per over (6.95) in 26 games for the country.

The Motera track will certainly be a flat deck, suiting the needs of the shortest format and with a lot of batting firepower in both sides, the Ahmedabad skyline could witness a lot of fireworks from both ends.

Whether it’s vice-captain Rohit, the indomitable duo of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya for the hosts or captain Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Jason Roy at the other end, the kookaburra white might find itself in the stands more often than not.

With the unavailability of Thangarasu Natarajan in the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be back leading the attack along side another senior Yuzvendra Chahal for company.

With England’s weakness against slow bowlers’ well-documented in these conditions, Chahal could have both Washington Sundar and Axar Patel for company which leaves Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini in a three-way battle.

For England, the white ball format presents them with multi-skilled cricketers like Stokes, Sam Curran and IPL auction sensation Moeen Ali for starters, who can change the complexion of any game in either departments.

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