CHENNAI: India captain Shubman Gill will walk out to bat at No 4 come the first Test against England which begins in Leeds on Friday. Gill’s deputy, Rishabh Pant, confirmed that the captain will drop down from No 3 to 4 and the keeper-batter will retain his position at No 5.
“I think there is still discussion going on who is going to bat at No 3. But No 4 and 5 are fixed. I think Shubman will bat at No 4 and I am going to stick to No 5 as of now. The rest, we are going to keep discussing,” Pant said during a press conference at Leeds on Wednesday.
Ever since Virat Kohli retired, there have been speculations over who will bat at No 4. It has been a legacy position of sorts from the time Sachin Tendulkar walked out to bat at No 4 for the first time in 1992. Since then, it has been predominantly held by two people. First by Tendulkat till he retired and then his successor Kohli, who made the position his own.
Once Kohli retired, there were doubts over whether Gill, who was asked to bat at No 3 after a lean run while opening the batting, drop himself down or will India look to someone like Karun Nair to fill the position for the time being considering the wealth of experience he has. It seemed more likely that Gill would take up the position and Pant confirmed the same on Wednesday.
The No 3 slot, as things stand, could be a toss up between Karun and B Sai Sudharsan. If the latter is making his debut, he is expected to bat at No 3. But if head coach Gautam Gambhir and Gill want to play three all-rounders, then Karun might take up the spot leaving Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur in the lower-order. There will be more clarity when Gill addresses the media on the eve of the game.