Rahul Dravid has confirmed that Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal are India’s current first-choice T20I openers ahead of the start of their three-match series against Afghanistan.
Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday (January 10) 24 hours before the first match in Mohali, Dravid said: “As of now, we will be certainly opening with Rohit and Jaiswal. But when you have a squad, you have to have that flexibility to do whatever is required if that is in the best interest of the team, and gives us the best chance to succeed. So nothing is closed. But certainly, we’re really happy with what Jaiswal has done as an opener for us, and he gives us a left-right combination as well at the top.”
Shubman Gill is the third opener in the squad and could slot in at No.3 following a string of low scores in the format. Six of Gill’s last seven T20I innings as an opener have ended before he reached double figures, and he averages 26.00 in the format despite his unbeaten century against New Zealand last year.
Jaiswal came into the India T20I side in August last year after a stellar IPL season. He has since made three fifties in the format and a century against Nepal in the Asian Games. Most importantly, his runs have come at a strike rate of 159.25.
Aside from Jaiswal and Gill, India have used two other openers in T20Is since January last year. Ruturaj Gaikwad has opened the innings on ten occasions in that timeframe and Ishan Kishan on eight. However, Gaikwad is unavailable for the Afghanistan T20Is with a finger injury, while Dravid confirmed in his press conference that Kishan was unavailable for selection having asked for a ‘break’ from international cricket.
With the matches against Afghanistan the last T20I series scheduled for India before the T20 World Cup later this year, Dravid’s comments are a strong indication of the current intentions for India’s batting lineup in the competition.
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