India vs England, 1st T20I: Skipper Virat Kohli all set to open innings

New Delhi: The focus will now be on the shortest format of the game, as India take on England in the first of the three Twenty20 Internationals on Thursday in Kanpur.

And the change of format may allow the skipper to open the innings for India, like he did for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous edition of Indian Premier League.

On the pre-match media conference, the 28-year-old dropped a hint, saying if required he is ready to dot it. But his cue came with a rider, that of team balance.

"There are all kinds of possibilities. In the IPL, you don't have many Indian batsmen to choose from because they are spread across the franchisees. Here (in international cricket) you have a lot of options as far as Indian batsmen are concerned," he said.

But the way, in the just concluded ODI series, Indian openers KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane failed to give a good start.

"We have a lot of options (in batting line-up), which is a very good thing. If need be I can open, it all depends on the balance of the side. I have only opened in one T20 International, may be two but I have experience of opening in the IPL. If need be, I could or I might not. It all depends on the balance of the side," he added.

And tomorrow's match might just well be the perfect platform for Kohli to translate his IPL form to international cricket.