Delhi: India is going to start a new phase in Test cricket from June 20. The team will start the five -match series from the first Test against England in Handingley. After the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, now Shubman Gill has been given the command of the team. In this series, Gill’s captaincy will be monitored, but the biggest discussion is being that who will play Kohli at number 4.
Virat Kohli took over this number after Sachin Tendulkar in 2013 and firmly handled this position for 12 years. Now Ricky Ponting, former Australia captain and winning the World Cup several times, believes that Gill should play at number 4 instead of Kohli.
Ricky Ponting gives important advice
Talking on the ICC review show, Ponting said that playing at number 4 will also make it easier to captain Gill. He said, “I think Sai Sudarshan and Yashasvi Jaiswal will land to open in England. Sudarshan seems to be very class players and their technology is good for Test cricket.”
According to Ponting, “If there are two young batsmen in the top, then a little experienced player is needed at number 3. There can be KL Rahul or Karun Nair and Shubman Gill can be sent to number 4.”
Possible list of top 5 batsmen
According to Ponting, India’s top order can be something like this:
- Opener: Sai Sudarshan and Yashasvi Jaiswal
- No. 3: KL Rahul or Karun Nair
- Number 4: Shubman Gill
- Number 5: Karun Nair (if Rahul plays at number 3)
KL Rahul’s great form
Meanwhile, KL Rahul scored a century while opening for India A in the second warm -up match against England Lions. He scored an innings of 116 runs. Dhruv Jurlel also scored a half -century with him.
Even during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul had opened in the absence of Rohit Sharma. But after Rohit returned, he was sent to the middle order. Now it will be interesting to see on which position the coach and selection committee takes Gill and who handles the number 4 chair after Kohli.
