DHAWAN CAN BAT ANYWHERE

After in-form KL Rahul sacrificed his opening slot, comeback man Shikhar is also open to idea of playing one down

Regular India opener Shikhar Dhawan says he is ready to bat anywhere after skipper Virat Kohli's move to drop himself down at No. 4 to accommodate him and K L Rahul backfired in the first ODI against Australia.

The visitors crushed India by 10 wickets in the first of the threematch series, chasing down a 256run target with plenty to spare here on Tuesday.

"If they ask me to bat at No.3, of course I'll do it. Anything for my country, for sure," Dhawan said after the game in which K L Rahul came in at the critical position.

"You have to be mentally strong, all the boys are mentally strong, that's why they've been playing international cricket and it's part of the journey, sometimes you've to switch numbers as well."

The senior player said it was completely the captain's decision to drop himself down at No.4 from his usual No.3 slot.

"See that is a captain's choice, KL is batting well, he did well in the last series and he played really well and he played well today.

"I feel it is the captain's choice where he wants to play and he has done amazing at No. 3, maybe I feel, he will think about it to go at number three again," he said.

After the game, Kohli said he might have to rethink his plans going into the second and third ODIs.

Dhawan blamed the loss of four wickets in the middle overs for the mauling.

David Warner and Aaron Finch slammed unbeaten tons to power the visitors to a convincing win at the Wankhede Stadium.

"We handled those first 10-15 overs very nicely. We lost four wickets in a go, that is where the game changed for us, then we were behind and then we were trying to cover it, so that is where we went wrong," said Dhawan, who made 74 off 91 balls, said.

Australia pulled things back to bowl India out for 255 and Warner (128 not out) and Finch (110) then did the rest.

India lost five quick wickets after Dhawan and K L Rahul (47) added 121 for the second wicket.

"K L (Rahul) got out. That time we planned to accelerate and those four wickets we lost, that's where we lost the momentum. We were targeting 300 runs but we ended up scoring less runs. In bowling, we could not take early wickets. They outplayed us," admitted Dhawan.

You have to be mentally strong, all the boys are mentally strong, that's why they've been playing international cricket and it's part of the journey, sometimes you've to switch numbers as well.