IND vs NZ: Will Ajinkya Rahane retain his spot in playing XI in Mumbai today?

Even after scoring four consecutive ODI half-centuries in the recently-concluded limited overs series against Australia, India batsman Ajinkya Rahane is not skipper Virat Kohli's first or second choice for the opening slot. With return of regular opener Shikhar Dhawan to join Rohit Sharma, Rahane may again find it difficult to keep his spot in the playing XI against New Zealand on his home ground today.

Ajinkya Rahane chats with Team India batting coach Sanjay Bangar at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Incidentally, Rahane was India's top scorer (87 off 58 balls) albeit while batting at No.4 in the ODI against South Africa two years ago at the same venue. Kohli wants him to play as an opener if the situation permits. "Well, he (Rahane) has definitely grabbed his opportunities as the third opener, because as I mentioned, there is KL (Rahul) competing for the spot as well. But Jinx has performed well. He has stood up and taken his chances… that's how the dynamics of a team work. When you have four guys who play in a similar position, obviously one of them will have to miss out and from the three, only two can play in the XI," Kohli said at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

Though India's skipper underlined the importance of Rahane's solid batting technique, he indicated that the Mumbai man won't be considered in the middle order. "We don't want to confuse him (Rahane) too much by making him play in the middle order because you need to find your game in ODI cricket, you need to understand how to go about things in ODI cricket and he has always been solid at the top of the order because of his technique. He likes playing there and it gives him freedom to go after the bowlers. So as I said, we don't want to confuse him. He is in a happy space," said Kohli.