Former Indian cricket players Sarandeep Singh and Wasim Jaffer think Rohit Sharma, the captain of India’s cricket team, should move himself to the third batting position and let Shubman Gill open the batting in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam.
The Test begins on Friday. Gill asked the team leaders to change his batting position after Cheteshwar Pujara was removed from the team following the World Test Championship final against Australia last year. However, Gill’s performance in Test matches has not been good since then. He has only scored 6, 10, 29*, 2, 26, 36, 10, 23, and 0 runs at the No.3 position. This has made people question whether he should continue playing in the team.
Since India doesn’t have Virat Kohli and KL Rahul for the second Test, Gill’s spot in the team is safe for now. However, experts think they should reconsider the batting order.
Even though Gill has batted at number three in first-class cricket for Punjab, Sarandeep, a former India selector, believes Gill is not suited for that position in Test cricket. Sarandeep said, “Gill is not a good number three player. He should open it. Rohit is very good at playing against spin bowling and can move down the order to let Gill open.“
Wasim Jaffer, another former Indian cricketer, agrees. He thinks Yashasvi Jaiswal and Gill should open for India, with Rohit batting at number three. “Gill and Jaiswal should open, and Rohit should bat at number three in the second test in my opinion. Waiting for his turn to bat isn’t helping Shubman. He should open the innings. Rohit is good at playing spin, so batting at number three shouldn’t be a problem for him,” Jaffer said.
When asked about this, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour said there haven’t been any discussions about this in the Indian team’s dressing room.
Gill was seen struggling against spin bowling, making mistakes by not moving his feet properly. Rahul Dravid was seen coaching Gill on how to play spin, showing him how to use his footwork to defend the ball. Gill was also practicing the sweep and reverse sweep shots to have more ways to score against England’s spinners.
Gill hasn’t scored a fifty in his last 11 innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal is also under pressure after not performing well in a difficult situation. But the team management is giving them some time. Rathour said, “There are young batters in our team who haven’t played much Test cricket. So, we need to be patient with them. Players like Gill, Jaiswal, and Iyer will start scoring big runs eventually, I’m sure of it.”
