KL Rahul Won't Open vs England, Shubman Gill At No. 4: India's Batting Order Decoded By Great. No. 3 Is...

India's Tour of England, that starts on June 20, is the start of new chapter in cricket in the country. While in T20Is the scene is now the new normal, in Tests too now Indian cricket team will be without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The series, under new captain Shubman Gill, will be an acid test for the side. With regular opener Rohit and No. 4 Kohli not part of the team anymore, it will be interesting to see whom the team management picks. 

Several reports have claimed that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the likely openers while Sai Sudharshan will bat at No. 3. Shubman Gill will be the No. 4 batter. Former Australia captain and current Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting, however, had a different take.  

"I think (Sai) Sudarshan and (Yashasvi) Jaiswal will open the batting (in England) as Sudarshan just looks like a class player to me and technically I think he could do well at Test level," Ponting said on ICC Review.

"They'll have two pretty young opening batters, so they might look to go for someone that's got a bit more experience at No.3.

"Whether that's KL (Rahul) or Karun (Nair) at No.3, and then Shubman might end up being that No.4 player, which will probably make life for him a little bit easier as a captain as well.

"Not having to be opening or batting at No.3 as a young captain might make it easier. Their top five will probably be Sudarshan, Jaiswal, KL, Gill and Karun Nair for the start of the England series."

Gill has hinted that the team management will take a call on the batting order after the India's Intra-Squad match that starts on June 13.  

"We haven't really decided on the...we still have some time. We will be playing intra squad match and we will be having a 10-day camp in London, so we still have a little bit of time. I think we can decide on the batting order once we go there," he said.

"When I came to know, there was an opportunity to captain the Test team, it was overwhelming. Having said that It's a big responsibility. Looking forward to this great challenge that will be presented to us," Shubman Gill said before departing for England. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Shubman Gill Sai Sudharsan KL Rahul Karun Nair India Cricket Team England Cricket Team England vs India, 2025 Cricket