If not Virat Kohli, who could be India's No 3 batter in T20Is?

India captain Rohit Sharma and fellow senior batter Virat Kohli are currently on an extended leave following the ICC World Cup and have opted to skip the T20I and ODI legs of the upcoming tour of South Africa. The two stalwarts, who were in roaring form during the World Cup, have opted to return to action in the two-Test series that takes place in Centurion and Cape Town respectively starting Boxing Day (26 December).

Both Rohit and Kohli have not played a T20I since the semi-final defeat against England in last year’s T20 World Cup Down Under, with their appearances in the shortest format being limited to the Indian Premier League. However, they remain integral to India’s ODI plans given their red-hot run in the recently-concluded World Cup where Kohli (765 runs) and Rohit (597 runs) occupied the top-two slots in the batting slots.

The BCCI has exhibited interest in bringing Rohit back into the T20I fold as captain, with the hope of the ‘Hitman’ guiding India to victory in next year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States. The same, however, cannot be said of Kohli, who is reportedly no longer in the board’s plans for the shortest format who are said to be taking a call on a long-term replacement for the No. 3 slot.

Ahead of the T20I series against South Africa that gets underway on Sunday in Durban, we take a look at some of the players who could replace Kohli at one-down:

Ishan Kishan

Kishan reportedly has the BCCI’s backing as the batter favoured to replace Kohli at No 3 on a long-term basis. The wicketkeeper-batter, who had struck the fastest ODI double-hundred in Bangladesh last year, has had a good run at that position during the recently-concluded T20I series against Australia, in which the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indians won 4-1.

The southpaw scored back-to-back half-centuries in the first two matches at Visakhapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram respectively, striking in the range of 150 in both games. After getting dismissed for a five-ball duck in Guwahati, his position went to Shreyas Iyer, who returned to action for the last two games of the series.

Suryakumar Yadav

The star batter that he is, SKY also exhibited signs of a successful leader by leading India to a 4-1 series victory over Australia in the T20I series that concluded with a six-run win on Sunday. Surya, however, is also a strong contender for the No. 3 slot even if the BCCI has shown interest in Kishan as the long-term replacement for Kohli. SKY, after all, has had the longest run at one-down among Indian batters in T20Is since the semi-final defeat against England.

The Mumbai Indians batter has played seven matches at that position, collecting 297 runs at an average touching fifty (49.50) with an unbeaten century (111 not out) against New Zealand along with two fifties and has a strike rate of 161.41. Statistically speaking, there could be no better replacement for this slot.

Shreyas Iyer

The team management and selectors could also go with a relatively experienced option at the No. 3 slot by bringing Shreyas Iyer into the mix. Iyer played at that position in the fourth and fifth T20Is against Australia and scored a crucial 37-ball 53 against Australia in Bengaluru on Sunday in a game where only three batters managed to cross the 30-run mark, helping the hosts post a competitive 160 that proved to be a winning total.

Given the M Chinnaswamy surface wasn’t the usual batting paradise where scores in excess of 200 are the norm, Iyer’s knock holds a lot of value and certainly presents him as a viable option for that slot.

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Though Gaikwad is a designated opener, the variety that he has exhibited in his style of batting in recent fixtures marks him out as someone who can bat in a lower position. Gaikwad showed the ability to go slam-bang and smash the opposition attack to all parts of the ground with his unbeaten 123 off 57 deliveries against Australia in Guwahati last week, a knock that should have guaranteed India a series-clinching victory but was ultimately overshadowed by an equally brilliant ton from Glenn Maxwell. In the previous fixture, he had shown plenty of patience and the ability to take the game deep with his 43-ball 58 in Thiruvananthapuram. It is that versatility that might just make him a suitable candidate.