NZ vs IND: Virat Kohli confirms India's first-choice keeper in white-ball cricket between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant

Team India skipper Virat Kohli has confirmed that KL Rahul will be keeping the stumps for the 'Men In Blue' in limited over cricket on Thursday (January 23).

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of India's first T20I clash against New Zealand in Auckland, Kohli lauded Rahul's dual ability to keep and bat and claimed that this provides a great balance to the national side.

“In the one-dayers we will have to think of sticking to what we did in Rajkot (making KL Rahul bat in the middle order),” Kohli said.

“I think that would work best for us as a side – have another guy at the top and let KL express himself in the middle order. In T20 cricket, the dynamics change a little more. We do have more lower order batsmen who have done well, we have more options for those spots, so KL can probably bat at the top.”

During the Rajkot ODI on January 17 against the Australia, Rahul came in at no.5 to bat and played a serging innings of 80 runs off 52 balls.

Kohli also labeled the Karanataka cricketer as a team man and claimed that KL has been more involved with the squad ever since he put on the wicketkeeping gloves.

“It’s amazing, he is open to accepting any role the team needs him to,” Virat said.

“He is a total team man. You can tell from the way he ‘keeps as well, he is always looking for an opportunity and always looking to make a play. He is not nervous about it. Just the way he collects the ball and runs to the stumps every ball and is in the game all the time."

"I think he relishes that much more than just being on the field. And it’s showing, he is much more involved in the game. It’s engaging him in the game in the right manner. It’s wonderful to have a guy who can do both things well and bring balance to the team,” he added.

KL's recent performances in white-ball cricket have been phenomenal for India. The Karnataka batsman has managed to play big knocks both while opening the innings and also coming down the order.

The 30-year-old also made subtle suggestions over the possible exclusion of Rishabh Pant due to Rahul's good form by saying, “Him ( KL Rahul) doing really well with the gloves has opened up another scenario for us where it gives us a lot more balance in playing an extra batter,” the Indian skipper said.

“If he can ‘keep and bat that well then why not have an extra batsman in the playing XI. This is something we are looking to continue with for a while. Not to take anything away from anyone else, this just brings the best balance to the side."

"I know there will be a lot of talk around what will now happen to some other players, but for us the most important thing is what the team requires and the best balance we can create as a side,” he added.

Pant picked up a concussion during India's first ODI clash against Australia and was ruled out for the final two matches of the series.

Due to his injury, KL took on the wicketkeeping job for the 'Men In Blue' and performed brilliantly and helped his side secure the three-match ODI series against the Aussies 2-1.

Auckland's Eden Park is set to host the first T20 International between India and New Zealand on Friday (January 24) of the five-match series.

India's T20I squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), Sanju Samson, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur.