Kohli hints at Dhawan over Rahul for opening slot

Shikhar Dhawan is likely to partner M Vijay at the top of the order, with KL Rahul missing out, in the first Test of India’s tour of the West Indies starting in Antigua on Thursday. India also seem set to play five bowlers, on a pitch that their captain Virat Kohli felt would not offer too much bounce. Kohli did not lay out the selection calls explicitly, but strongly hinted at them in his press conference on the eve of the Test match.

“In international cricket, you need to understand one thing that you cannot count players out because of one series,” Kohli said. “If you’re talking about KL Rahul, obviously he’s improved leaps and bounds as a cricketer in the last 3-4 months. He’s established himself as the third opener for India, he’s a regular in the Test side, he played in Sri Lanka as well, scored runs there.

“But that’s one call you need to take as a captain, and that’s why they say the job is never easy. It’s just that, whoever starts a Test series, he has an edge over [the player] who has to wait for his chance, but at the same time, we have four Test matches and you will get a chance at some stage.

“If you speak about KL Rahul and someone like Shikhar, it’s very difficult to take a call up front, in the first match of a series, because someone like Shikhar is a very dominant player, he can dominate sessions and bring you into the Test match, especially in conditions like West Indies.

“You saw how he played in Sri Lanka, he scored a very quick hundred, but got injured unfortunately, but that’s what I mean. You can’t count out a guy like Shikhar because of a couple of innings here and there. So we need to give guys a decent run, and know that if something goes wrong, we have a quality player like Rahul waiting in the wings and he’s as solid as anyone in world cricket right now, and he’ll do a good job whenever he gets a chance.”

There was a smattering of grass on the surface, and Kohli felt its main purpose was to bind the soil underneath, rather than provide any major assistance to the quick bowlers.

“I think the surface looks really dry and soft,” he said. “It’s not as hard as some of the other surfaces in West Indies. The wicket is no different from what we play back home, actually. It’s basically where we have soft wickets and the soil is loose, it’s bound by the grass, so have to keep that cover on, so I think it’ll be a decent batting wicket.

“There won’t be much bounce, not …

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