Former India captain Anil Kumble has urged Team India to resist pushing Shubman Gill to the opener’s slot, should regular skipper Rohit Sharma miss one of the five Tests in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
According to reports, Rohit could miss the first game of the series starting at the Perth Stadium on November 22 due to personal reasons.
Gill, who started his India Test career as an opener, has been slotted down to the number 3 slot after indifferent form at the top and the subsequent success of Yashasvi Jaiswal since 2023. Gill made his Test debut in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne during India’s previous tour Down Under in 2020-21 and shone in the team’s historic Test win at the Gabba, setting up a 328 chase with his stroke-filled 91.
With India appearing to be short of season back-up opening options, talks have circled about Gill returning to the position in Rohit’s absence. However, Kumble has urged to bury that temptation.
“He (Shubman) is exceptionally talented, skilful and he’s done that. He’s been to Australia before. In Brisbane, he got a wonderful fifty there and he knows the conditions,” Kumble told the broadcasters during Day 1 of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Kumble instead suggested KL Rahul to take up the mantle should Rohit be unavailable in Perth.
“I don’t want to change that. I know there’s a temptation to push Shubman Gill because Rohit is not available in the first Test. But, there’s always KL Rahul that name is synonymous with change and adapting to whatever the team wants. Whether you want to open the batting or keep wickets, Rahul Dravid did that, now KL Rahul is doing that,” he said.
Kumble also suggested that Gill was stylistically from his successful No. 3 predecessors, Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara, and may require to make subtle changes to his gameplan in Australia.
“For the last 25 years, there have been only two players who have been consistently playing (at No. 3 for India) and and and it’s a tough role. Both those batsmen, Rahul and Cheteshwar, contributed immensely during that period, and you know you have to balance it out. You could probably be batting the second ball of the test match, or you could be batting much later when the conditions are easier,” Kumble said.
“But more often than not, you get in there to control that first session and see off the new ball because we know that the Kookaburra ball after the first 25 hours, the best time to bat is between the 30th over and the 60th over. And that’s what these two batters did throughout their careers, ensuring that the team was safe and the four number four, number five and number six batters, came in much later into the lineup so that they could comfortably bat and score the runs,” Kumble explained.
The 25-year-old Gill has played 12 Tests at No. 3, scoring 782 runs with three centuries and a 43.44 average.
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