Kohli says Rahane is team’s third opener

TIL Desk Sports/ India skipper Virat Kohli has made it clear that in-form batsman Ajinkya Rahane is the team’s third opener, effectively ruling him out of ODI series opener against New Zealand here.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are India’s regular openers. But in the absence of Dhawan, Rahane had opened the batting for India and hit four half-centuries on the trot in the recent five-match ODI series against Australia, which the home team won 4-1.

“He’s (Rahane) definitely grabbed his opportunities as the third opener. As I mentioned there was K L (Rahul) as well competing for the (opening) spot. But Jinx (Rahane) has performed well, stood up and taken his chances.

“That’s how the dynamics of a team work when you have four guys who play in a similar position and obviously one of them will have to miss out as only two can play in the XI,” said Kohli at the pre match media conference.