Kohli not averse to opening

Virat Kohli doesn’t rule out the option of opening the innings in the T20 series against England. Indian openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan have struggled to fire during the ODIs and the experiment to replace Dhawan with Ajinkya Rahane, too, didn’t work.

“There are all kinds of possibilities. In the IPL you don’t have many Indian players to play with because they are spread across franchises. But here you have the best of the lot as far Indian batsmen are concerned. There are lot of options, which is a very good thing,” said Kohli, who opens for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“I have only opened once or maybe twice for India, but I have the experience of opening in IPL. If the need be then I could or I might not, depending on the balance of the side.”

Kohli admits the three-match series could serve as an occasion for a lot of players, like Suresh Raina to “get back into the groove.” “We still believe that he (Raina) has enough to contribute in the short formats for India. The reason why everyone is included in the squad is because we believe in them, we have faith in them, they can contribute now and in the future as well,” Kohli said.

Kohli said it was also the time for new spinners -- Parvez Rasool and Yuzvendra Chahal -- who came in place of experienced Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to become T20 specialists.

“Chahal, obviously, everyone has seen his performances. Rasool played under me at RCB. He is pretty confident and can bowl with the new ball against some of the attacking batsmen of the world. They know how to create pressure and bowl to get you wickets. I am pretty confident about both of them. This might be the perfect opportunity for them to seal their spots as T20 specialist spinners.”

Kohli also had a characteristic reply on the prospect of facing 90mph of left-arm pacer Tymal Mills. “If they’ve brought him in as a T20 specialist he might have a set of skills which is required for this format but I can further comment on him from the second game. But 90mph is not a problem, I think I’ve faced enough 90 miles bowling till now!,” he smiled.