India's possible T20I XI to face England
After winning the three-match ODI series against England, all eyes are on the three-match T20I series between the two batting heavyweights. The hosts go into the series as favourites and Virat Kohli will look to finish the limited-overs leg on a high. This is also the first time Kohli will be captaining the Indian T20I side and the excitement is already high among the fans.
Rishabh Pant’s international debut and Ashish Nehra’s return are some of the things the fans will look out for in the series. The selectors have recalled Suresh Raina into the T20I side and this will add some strength to the batting, especially in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Let us take a look at how India line-up going into the series.
Team for 3 T20Is: Virat Kohli (Capt), MS Dhoni (wk), Mandeep Singh, KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Parvez Rasool, Amit Mishra, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra
Openers
India’s regular opener in the limited-over formats, Rohit Sharma is yet to recover from the thigh injury he sustained during the fifth ODI against New Zealand and is not included in the Indian squad for the T20Is. His fellow openers Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from the side for this format.
In their absence, KL Rahul, who became the third Indian to score a T20I century when India faced West Indies in Florida last year, will open the innings in spite of batting at number 4 when he scored his T20I century. He looked out of his comfort zone in the first two matches. In spite of that, the team management will back him to excel in the T20Is,
The second opener spot is up for grabs as both Mandeep Singh and Rishabh Pant are in the reckoning. Mandeep represented India in the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe last year and scored 87 runs in those three matches. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant made a case for himself with some sensational performances with the bat in the last 12 months.
In all likelihood, it will be Pant who will walk out to open the batting for India along with Rahul.