Why not just do away with the infantry altogether in the beginning and go all cav?

I've never been in India in the early game, but can't you recruit Indian and company cav? Lancers kill melee infantry very well, and I tested this on custom battle so I know how well they work. Heck, come to think of it, if I could recruit those I'd just put 10 of those units outside the fort lol.

As Prussia I was able to recruit lancers very early in the game; I'm thinking the native cavalry should be able to be recruited just as early. I guess if you're portugal, you'd have to make the Goa capital to a military encampment to get those?

@Didz:
Just saying those are only possible assignments for cav. You should still do option A though, because you can route whole units in 1 or 2 charges. That's whole units of less troops to deal with inside the fort.