Watch: ‘Prithvi will start, KL will bat…’ Virat Kohli on XI, KL Rahul’s batting position

Team India’s premier batsman Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the New Zealand tour. Ahead of the 1st ODI against Kiwis, India skipper Virat Kohli confirmed a debut for Prithvi Shaw in the first ODI at Hamilton.

New Opening Pair & KL Rahul’s batting position

The Mumbai batsman, Prithvi Shaw was named in the side as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan. He is likely to partner Mayank Agarwal, who has been named as Rohit’s replacement for the ODI series.

“It is unfortunate that Rohit cannot be part of the ODI series, the impact he has had is there for everyone to see. We do not have any ODI tournaments to look up to, so it is ideal for him to get recovered,” said Indian skipper Kohli

In ODI cricket, Prithvi is definitely going to start, KL will play in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to keep and play in the middle.

#TeamIndia on playing sans the Hitman & a possible combo ahead of the 1st ODI against New Zealand #NZvIND ?? pic.twitter.com/hdGVKwVbYz

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 4, 2020

Virat Kohli on ODI preparations 

“In ODIs, we played a really hard-fought series against Australia, we lost the first match, but then came back to win the series 2-1. We will take a lot of confidence from that series, we will try to play positive cricket. We have to believe in our own plans, we know that New Zealand will not give up and we need to be vary of that,” said Kohli.

Excited about leading young team

“The average of this team is 27, we should be fielding way better than we are. The fielding standard in the last series was not good from either side. In T20s, it can happen as you can get nervous. In ODIs we have had some bad fielding experiences, you do not expect it. I think it is about taking all three skills seriously,” added Team India skipper.