India likely XI: Where will Rishabh Pant bat: No. 3 or middle order where he struggles against spin?

Two days out from his final coaching assignment, Rahul Dravid said that the opening combination could be a toss-up between Yashasvi Jaiswal or Virat Kohli partnering skipper Rohit Sharma. It may have just affirmed that India will bank on their senior pros to set the ball rolling up top. In such a scenario, India could concentrate three of their right-handed batting heavyweights Rohit, Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav in the top-order, something certain experts have cautioned against.

If the left-handed Jaiswal is to separate the trio and open with Rohit, India will have wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja at numbers 5-6-7, posing a rigid transition towards the bowling department. It also will tie down the management’s hands in experimenting with the big-hitting Shivam Dube somewhere in the middle-order. Jaiswal’s wavering form on livelier pitches during the IPL may also go against him.

If India opt to be bolder from the onset, Kohli will open with Rohit. They have only paired up once for the opening wicket in the past, scoring 94 runs in 54 deliveries against England in 2021.

The choice of the team’s balance will then rest heavily on the utilization of Dube, Pant, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel. One of India’s major headaches would be sealing their primary wicket-keeper Pant’s batting slot. The left-hander holds one of the weakest records among batters who have played at least 40 T20I innings at no. 4 and 5. Among the 29 batters who fall in that bracket, Pant has accumulated the least runs (771) with a lowly 124.95 strike rate.

Pant has also struggled heavily against spin upon his return in the IPL, where he scored 153 runs at a 119.53 strike-rate with five dismissals, indicating that a middle-overs entry may not be favourable from a team perspective. Instead, the left-hander could be the differentiator at number three between the openers and Suryakumar at number three, where he struck a half-century against Bangladesh in the warm-ups and holds a marginally better career record when compared to other positions.

With Pant slotting in at no. 3 and Suryakumar at 4, India have a variety of options open in the middle-order. India are likely to nail down all-rounders Hardik, Dube and Jadeja in the first XI, and things could eventually whittle down to the holding conditions and the department that India would want to firm up further.

The final call would be between Samson and Axar. Samson’s inclusion would likely offer him a floating role between 3 and 5, while Axar could beef up the lower-order batting and spin department at number 8 behind Jadeja. The bowling department will continue to revolve around the verve of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Left-armer Arshdeep Singh is likely to pip Mohammed Siraj as the second seamer as Hardik and Dube will offer a share of overs beside the spinners.

All that compositional flexibility flows from a Rohit-Kohli opening partnership that might have the cushion of carrying on in their natural style of watchful aggression on the tacky New York pitches.

India likely XI: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson/Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.