1st ODI: India will play around No.3 slot in Virat Kohli’s absence, says Morkel

Dharamshala, June 12 (IANS) India’s fast bowling coach Morne Morkel has indicated that the team will experiment with the number three batting position in Virat Kohli’s absence during the three‑match ODI series against Afghanistan, starting at the HPCA Stadium on Saturday. 

Kohli was ruled out of the three ODIs against Afghanistan due to a hamstring injury picked up while hitting a match-winning 75 not out in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. In his absence, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, and Yashasvi Jaiswal are in contention to bat at number three.

“I think that’s something that in this series we’ll play around with, (whether) it’s Ishan (Kishan) or KL (Rahul) or Yashasvi (Jaiswal). We have got a couple of one‑day games coming up, and we’ll give guys an opportunity in different slots to give ourselves a better idea of how we can structure teams and have different options,” Morkel said in the pre-match press conference.

Rahul has largely featured as a middle-order batter in the past five years, but in India’s training session on Friday, Kishan was on keeping duties while Rahul was tasked with taking outfield catches, thus raising the prospect of the Karnataka lad being promoted up the order for Saturday’s clash.

Morkel also spoke about the new pacers Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar, who are in line to get their international debuts in the series, with the next two games to be played in Lucknow and Chennai on June 17 and 20, respectively.

“First impressions, it is almost like they’ve been part of the squad for five years. I saw no nervousness on their face. The way they’ve gone about training, the energy they’ve trained with, was good to see,” he said.

Morkel signed off by saying that Rohit Sharma was all fine after being spotted training with a different thigh pad, initially thought as protection for his hamstring, which he injured during IPL 2026.

“I didn't even notice that. It just shows that I don't think there's any issue. He's passed all his fitness tests. He's cleared and ready to go. Obviously, the balls are coming at high speeds, and you want to protect yourself, even if there's a slight niggle. But I can assure you there's nothing wrong.

“Rohit is moving well and training well. So excited to see him go. Always nice to have his experience back as well. Just the calmness that he brings to the dressing room is always a positive to have. He's training well, he's moving well. So I know that he's also excited to go.”