India vs Australia: Why Virat Kohli May Push Himself Down The Order Against Australia

When Shikhar Dhawan was out with injury for India's limited-overs series against the West Indies, KL Rahul was slotted in to open the batting along with Rohit Sharma. Rahul put up a string of good knocks in both T20 Internationals (T20Is) and ODIs in Dhawan's absence to put pressure on the left-hander. With the in-form Rohit Sharma rested for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, both Rahul and Dhawan performed well, leaving captain Virat Kohli with a problem of plenty at the top of the order.

Kohli, who bats at No.3, hinted ahead of India's three-match ODI series against Australia that all three may be given a run in the team, with him possibly moving down the order to accommodate Rohit, Dhawan and Rahul.

"Look, a guy in form is always good for the team. ...You obviously want to have the best players available and then chose from what the combination should be for the team," Kohli said in the press conference ahead of the first ODI against Australia in Mumbai.

"There might be a possibility that all three (Rohit, Shikhar and Rahul) might play. It will be interesting to see what balance we want to take in on the field," the Indian skipper said.

Asked if he would have to move down the order to allow the in-form trio to play, Kohli said "Yeah, big possibility. I would be very happy to do so."

"Look I am not possessive about where I play. I am not insecure about where I bat," Kohli said.

Kohli said that being the captain meant not just focusing on the current state of the team but having a more far-sighted approach.

"Being the captain of the team, it is my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready. A lot of the other people might not look at it that way, but your job as a captain is not only to look after the team right now, but also to prepare a team that you leave behind when you eventually pass it onto someone else," he said.

"So, these are times when you need to be aware. It is very easy to get into a personal zone, saying I need to get runs and when I score, I feel good about everything. It is not like that, it does not work like that," he said.

"The vision has to be always on the larger picture and figure out how can you make these guys confident. If at all someone has to take responsibility, it should be me and give the other guys opportunities as well," Kohli added.

In the third T20I against Sri Lanka, with India batting first and the openers giving the team a strong start, Kohli took a major drop down the order. He let Sanju Samson come in at the fall of the first wicket, followed by Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer. He eventually came out to bat at No. 6.

Topics mentioned in this article

India vs Australia 2020 India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Virat Kohli Shikhar Dhawan Rohit Sharma KL Rahul Cricket