The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli on Friday said that his deputy in limited-overs cricket and opener Rohit Sharma has been rested for the first “couple of games” against England in the five-match T20I series. Rohit’s absence means Shikhar Dhawan will be opening the innings for India along with KL Rahul.

Eoin Morgan won the toss for England and decided to field first, looking at the dew factor that will be coming into play in the second half of the game. Axar Patel has been included in the T20I XI along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are still warming the bench after receiving maiden callups. 

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Talking about the same during the toss, Virat Kohli said, “Probably would have bowled first as well. Dew is going to be a massive factor in the second half. Got to get into the game with the ball and restrict them to a chaseable score. We were planning to do things like batting first in these conditions where bowling in the dew becomes a factor.”

He further added, “It’s a good way to prepare for the World Cup. The next few months will be important from a team environment. Rohit is resting for the first couple of games.”

On the eve of the match, Virat Kohli had said that KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma form the first-choice opening pair, with Shikhar Dhawan will be the third opener. 

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Virat had 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.”

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.