Nidahas Trophy, 2018: How Rohit Sharma's men should line-up for the rest of the tournament

Middle Order - KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey

3) KL Rahul

The Karnataka batsman was unfortunate to miss out on a spot in the playing XI in the first two games. His T20I record has been sensational and he was coming into the tournament having two big scores under his belt in the previous T20I series he played for India in December 2017.

With Rishabh Pant not looking in the best of form, it is only fair to give Rahul his much-deserved chance.

4) Suresh Raina

Raina’s comeback in the South African tour was just about good enough, even though he missed out on a big score. India is looking at Raina as a specialist no.3 batsman in T20 cricket now.

His experience will be very crucial in this series because India has got a fairly inexperienced middle order. So far, in the Nidahas trophy, he has not quite impressed. However, a big score may be just around the corner.

5) Manish Pandey

Pandey struck form during the South Africa tour and carried it on into the Nidahas Trophy, and thus making the No.4 spot his. He has to keep scoring big since there is a lot of competition around him for the same spot.

Pandey’s ability to pace the innings well makes him the perfect choice for the no.4 slot. After struggling to score at a brisk pace in the first game, the Karnataka lad saw India home in the run chase against Bangladesh.