With Shubman Gill ruled out from the series opener of AUS vs IND 1st test in Perth, India’s preparation has suffered a tremendous blow ahead of the high-octane five-test Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, starting November 22.
Rohit Sharma, likely to not feature in the first encounter, had already grabbed headlines. With Abhimanyu Easwaran not at his usual best in unofficial tests and KL Rahul also succumbing to injury in the intra-squad match, the problems of the struggling team have compounded.
Either Rahul or Easwaran will be joining forces with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the opening spot. But, with the recent injury of Gill, the team management will be scratching their heads at the pivotal no. three position to whom a bet could be taken. Although they have asked Devdutt Padikkal, who played for touring India A in two four-day matches, to stay back as a batting backup.
Here, we weigh down the options of who could turn out to be spotless at the crucial no. three spot in the AUS vs IND 1st test match at Perth.
Virat Kohli
India’s talismanic batter has predominantly batted at the no. four position in Tests. Although he was recently promoted to no. three, citing Gill’s injury against New Zealand in the Bengaluru test. He did score a noteworthy 70 runs in the second essay before getting out on a duck in the first innings.
It was his first appearance at no. three after 2016 when he batted at that position against West Indies in Gros Islet. So far, he has come out to bat at no. three in only eight innings of six tests, scoring 167 runs at an average of 23.85 with a highest score of 70 against New Zealand.
India could give Virat the honors to bat at no. three, considering his experience of dealing with the pressure, specially in Australian conditions, as he had to come out to bat sooner on numerous occasions owing to top-order frailties.
Devdutt Padikkal
The stylish left-hander has thrown his hat in the ring for selections frequently with his decent showings in the opportunities he gets. The Karnataka-born batter showed his mettle in the first unofficial tests in these scores by scoring a resilient 88 and 36 runs against the Australia A lineup. However, he scored only 26 and 1 runs in the second unofficial test; it was enough to cement his spot in the absence of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma from the first test.
Notably, Paddikal batted at no. four and no. five in these two tests. However, his numbers at no. three are staggering in First-Class Cricket, with scoring 1459 runs at an astronomical average of 51.18 with three centuries and four fifties; he puts his case sturdily to bat at Gill’s position in his absence.
KL Rahul
Rahul, “a man of crisis” who has experience batting at numerous positions and bailing out the team from dire straits, especially in overseas alienated condition, has already got the backing of Coach Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir heaped praises on Rahul’s versatility and was assured about him doing the job at any position neatly in the final press conference before heading to Australia.
So far, Rahul has played only five innings in Test cricket, scoring 88 runs with a highest score of 54. It’s highly possible that Rahul would be given the opportunity to open the innings; however, if he’s summoned to bat at no. three, he will try to take the opportunity with both hands, considering he has fallen down from his usual middle pecking order with the arrival of Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel in the contingent.
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