Ishan Kishan is likely to open with Rohit Sharma in the first T20 match between India and West Indies.

Ishan Kishan is likely to open with Rohit Sharma in the first T20 match between India and West Indies.

India versus West Indies T20 Playing XI: With a congested T20 calendar lined up ahead; of the marquee event in Australia beginning October 16, India will try to make apologies and rebuild the side. Rohit, who has won five IPL titles with Mumbai Indians; will be trying to address concerns such as the opening blues, the middle-lower order quandary, and bowling plans. And he’ll have a lot of happy headaches while trying to bolster the group.

Ishan Kishan, a wicketkeeper-batter, grabbed the jackpot at the IPL mega auction; a few days ago, landing a Rs 15.25 crore deal with Rohit’s club Mumbai Indians.

Kishan is set to start, but India will have the opportunity to use the Rohit-Kohli; combo again in the three-match series due to KL Rahul’s unavailability.

The starting combination, and who would be perfect to partner the skipper in the shortest format; with his regular KL Rahul out with a left hamstring strain, would be the first order of business.

In the first match of their three-match ODI series against the Caribbean side in Ahmedabad; Ishan played at number one, but the skipper also used Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan.

see also: Virat Kohli’s Captaincy is Examined by Ajit Agarkar

While Ishan may be the favoured option, Rohit also has Ruturaj Gaikwad; the Maharashtra run machine who has been in red-hot form but has only been warming the bench.

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Then there’s KKR all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer who sprang to popularity; as a big-hitting opener in the UAE leg of the 2016 IPL; scoring 320 runs at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 125. In this time period, he was slightly ahead of Gaikwad, who had more runs (407) than him. It’ll also be intriguing to see if Virat Kohli; who has been struggling with his form comes out to open with Rohit. His most recent International century came in a pink ball day/night; Test against Bangladesh at this identical venue in November 2019.

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