Virat Kohli on Thursday confirmed the Kl Rahul and Rohit Sharma as the opening pair for the 1st T20I against England. 

"KL and Rohit have been consistently performing at the top. If either of them takes rest, Shikhar is the third opener. Rohit and Rahul will start," the Indian captain said during the virtual press conference ahead of the 1st T20I. 

Kohli said that the batsmen will be playing with more freedom and a different approach in this series. 

"We want to play free cricket, we've explosive batsmen in the team now. That's exactly what we're trying to address. This time around you'll see players bat more freely. I see us being much more free with our approach from this series onwards," Kohli said. 

India will be playing a five-match T20I series against England starting from 12th March followed by a three-match ODI series.