Ind vs Eng 1st T20I: Shikhar Dhawan to sit out as KL Rahul will open with Rohit Sharma, confirms Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are India's first-choice opening pair for the five-match T20I series against England.

Team India batsmen KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma (Source: Twitter)

Team India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed that star batsman Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will open for India in the first T20I against England, which is set to take place on Friday (March 11) in Ahmedabad.

Kohli confirmed that Rohit and Rahul are India's first-choice opening pair for the five-match T20I series and even highlighted how Rahul has been a consistent performer for India in the shortest format of the game. The Indian skipper also said that Shikhar Dhawan might open if one of the openers is rested for a game.

"It's quite simple, KL and Rohit have been performing at the top of the order for us and those two would start," Kohli said on the eve of the first T20I.

"And if Rohit takes rest or Kl has a niggle or something Shikki (Shikhar Dhawan) obviously comes back as a third opener. The starting composition, Rohit and Rahul will start," he added.

While Rohit himself has refused to comment on who would open alongside him, former India batsman VVS Laxman had picked Rahul as the opening partner of the star batsman.

According to the former batsman, Dhawan -- despite being in great touch -- can be used as a backup opener keeping in mind this year's T20 World Cup in India.

Speaking on a TV show, Laxman had said, "It will be a tough question, as far as the selection of the second opener is concerned. There's no doubt about that because Rohit Sharma is an automatic choice in white-ball cricket. I will still go with KL Rahul because over the last few months and years I think the Indian team management went with KL Rahul as an opening batsman and he has done really well in that position.

"Yes, Shikhar Dhawan had a fantastic IPL, the way he batted at the top of the order, scoring centuries for Delhi Capitals and then he was in tremendous form for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare, where he scored a big 100 in that tournament as well. With KL Rahul as an opening combination, you want someone who's second. Keeping in mind the T20 World Cup, you have to identify who your openers are going to be there in the World Cup and back them; don't chop and change. You have someone as experienced as Shikhar Dhawan, who can be the backup opener in case one of these openers Rohit Sharma/KL Rahul gets injured or lose their form," he added.

Full squads:

India: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Chahar.

England: Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.