Virat Kohli’s India will be playing a three-match series against the West Indies from next week, followed by another three-match series against Sri Lanka at home. They will then travel to New Zealand, where they play five matches.

India have 11 T20Is and of course the IPL to try out all the fringe players before settling on the final squad.

The Men in Blue have been dominating other teams in Test and ODI cricket, but have not been as successful as they would like in the shortest format. There are a few concerns, especially at the top of the order, where they are failing to gain much-needed momentum in the powerplay.

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The waiting approach might work in ODIs, but in T20Is it is putting too much pressure on the middle order to strike the ball out of the park right from the word go. While most teams are looking to maximize the powerplay even by compromising some early wickets, India have been looking to preserve wickets, like they do in the 50-over contests, and go big in the final few overs.

This strategy of holding back has backfired on a few occasions, especially on wickets that are slow and not conducive for strokeplay.

So what should India’s ideal batting lineup be for next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia? Here is a look at the best possible options:

Openers

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul

As mentioned earlier, one of India’s problems in T20 is at the top. And that is why KL Rahul needs to replace the left-handed Shikhar Dhawan to partner Rohit Sharma.

We all know that Rohit takes a little bit of time at the start, but catches up once he gets going. The problem with Dhawan is the pacing of his innings; more often than not he gets stuck with the same pace, and becomes one-dimensional with his strokeplay.

Rahul, as we saw in last year’s IPL, can be more attacking and has a lot of different shots to take advantage of the powerplay. He can play the perfect foil to Rohit at the top of the order.

The West Indies series is the right time to play Rahul at the top of the order now that Dhawan has been injured and been replaced by Sanju Samson.

Top order

Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer

There is very little or nothing to discuss about Virat Kohli at No. 3. While some people might suggest that the best slot for the Indian captain is opening the innings in T20, like he does for RCB in the IPL, I feel No. 3 is his best batting position as it gives depth to the lineup.

Shreyas Iyer should be the next man after Kohli in the T20 World Cup. The right-hander is very elegant and has the game to either up the ante or build an innings if the team needs it.

The other advantage with Iyer is his ability to run quickly between the wickets, which could be a crucial factor in next year’s World Cup because of the size of the grounds Down Under. Kohli, who likes to rotate the strike early on in the innings, will need someone who is ready to convert the ones into twos.

Middle order

Rishabh Pant / Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya

In an ideal world, Rishabh Pant would have been be the wicketkeeper-batsman for the mega event, coming in at No. 5. But the left-hander has been failing to make use of his opportunities, both with the bat and behind the stumps.

It won’t be a bad idea to try out Sanju Samson as the wicketkeeper-batsman in a few games in the upcoming series against West Indies and Sri Lanka. Samson is a free-stroking player who can get going pretty early, which is important when batting at 5 or 6 in T20s.

The advantage with Samson is that he plays the horizontal bat shots well, which would be needed on the bouncy Australian tracks.

Although all-rounder Hardik Pandya is on an injury break and hasn’t played for a while, he is almost a sure starter in the XI. He must be the man coming in at No. 6 to finish off the innings in style.

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