Courtesy: BCCI
The highly-anticipated five-match Test series between England and India is set to begin with the first Test at Headingley in Leeds on Friday, June 20. Just two days before the first ball will be bowled, Rishabh Pant, the vice-captain of India, revealed the batting slot of captain Shubman Gill, stating that he will bat at number four in the lineup, while at the same time, the wicketkeeper batter himself will come out at number five.
After the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket, both of whom batted in the top four, there are two slots available for the young players to stake their claim in the Indian batting lineup for the England Test series. While the opening slot of Rohit Sharma is expected to be taken by KL Rahul, who has had a good record as opener in England in Tests, the number four slot, previously occupied by Virat Kohli, was up for grabs.
I think there is still discussion going on, who’s going to play at No. 3: Rishabh Pant
In the pre-match press conference, Rishabh Pant went on to give the details about not only the number four, but also the number five slot in the Indian batting order. He was quoted as saying, as per India Today, “I think there is still discussion going on, who’s going to play at No. 3 but definitely 4 and 5 are fixed. I think Shubman is going to bat at No. 4 and I’m going to stick to No. 5 as of now, and the rest, we’re going to keep on discussing about that.”
Similarly, Rishabh Pant also raised suspense on who will bat at number three for India in upcoming Test matches against England since Shubman Gill has given up the slot to be at number four. It is expected that either Sai Sudharsan or Karun Nair could end up batting for India at number three on the England Test tour, which will be quite a stiff challenge for any one of them.
It is important to note that Sudharsan is looking forward to debuting for India in Test cricket, while Nair is tipped to return to the Test team after a number of years on the sidelines.
