Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif said veteran batter Virat Kohli will retain his number three position in ODIs for the upcoming series against England. Kohli missed the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan with a hamstring injury after he was injured during the IPL 2026 final against Gujarat Titans.
In the first ODI against Afghanistan, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma opened the innings together, with Ishan Kishan batting at one drop. In the second ODI, Shubman Gill batted at number three, whereas Shreyas Iyer was promoted to one down in the final game after Yashasvi Jaiswal was promoted as an opener in the last two games.
“You cannot shake Virat Kohli. He has drawn a very big line. I am talking about ODIs, at number three, it is not possible at this point for someone to cross that line and take his place. When a big tournament or a World Cup comes, the batting order will be the same. If Ishan plays also, he will not come at three, he will have to play lower. I think it will be Kohli at three, Shreyas or Ishan at four, Axar or Sundar at five, KL at six and Hardik at seven. I think this will be the team for the World Cup. No one can even become Kohli’s shadow at number three at this point, forget taking his place,” Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
Kaif said KL Rahul would also retain his place in the ODI team as a wicket-keeper bat, who would bat at number six.
“What KL Rahul has done at six, his place is fixed and he will only keep wickets. Right now it is a phase of experiments with Ishan coming in and that is fine. Maybe KL would have asked for a bit of break too ight now after the IPL and telling Ishan to keep. KL is a proven player and is fit as well now. He will only play. This question has been raised before as well. Someone else coming in will have to wait. There is always a trend of running a team. His form has been great, he is scoring runs and bringing that finishing touch. He will always be ahead and Ishan will have to wait. These guys will get an opportunity once Rohit and Kohli are gone,” he added.
India will play three ODIs against England in July.
