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Xtra Time Web Desk: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday made it clear that Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma will open in the ODI series against England starting from Tuesday. There have been lot of talks around whether the left hander will be preferred in the opening slot or not given that he was dropped after the first T20I against England at Ahmedabad.

“Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma will definitely open. When it comes to ODI, there are no doubts about that. They’ve been amazing over the past few years,” said Virat Kohli in his virtual pre match press conference in Pune.

The Indian captain also opened up about his role as an opener in T20 format. Kohli surprised everyone by promoting himself at the top in the deciding T20I against England. According to Kohli that was a strategic move and it worked out too well for them. The skipper said  he would take up the same role during the upcoming IPL 2021 too and will take up any role that the team will require at that particular moment. He made it clear that he had to make a change in his position to make someone like Suryakumar Yadav pitch in.

“As Rohit mentioned, it was a strategic move but we enjoyed batting together and we saw the effects of batting together. It’s not a guarantee that this is going to continue in the future. I am going to open in the IPL to keep all options. Now I want to understand my role as an opener as well so that I can open up a slot for someone like Surya. I should be able to play any kind of role that the team requires me to. We’ll take a call closer to the World Cup,” Kohli said.