New Delhi: With the drop of Cheteshwar Pujara from the Indian squad for the test series against the West Indies, there is a void at number three in India's batting line-up. The selectors have a crucial decision to make about who will fill the third spot. Let's see batters who can come in at number three.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
The young talent has been in phenomenal form, he was a steller in the last edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Playing for the Rajasthan Royals, Jaiswal was one of the leading run-scorer. He struck 625 runs in 14 games.
Jaiswal also has an impressive first-class record. He has scored 1,845 runs in just 15 games with an excellent average of 80.21. he has played the highest knock of 265 in domestic cricket.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad is another batter who performed well in the previous IPL season. The 26-year-old made his ODI debut last year in October but he is still waiting for his test cap. There are changes that he could play his maiden test in West Indies.
Gaikwad has excelled as an opener for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League over the past few seasons, but the right-hander has a sound technique that could well suit batting at No. 3 as evidenced by his six centuries from 28 first-class appearances at the domestic level.
One of the positives from the WTC final was Ajinkya Rahane's form. He showed mettle against Australia when India was struggling. He scored 89 and 46 in the match respectively.
Rahane has spent the majority of his Test career at No. 5, but he has also played at first drop, where he hit a century in 2015 against Sri Lanka.
Shubman Gill
Shuman Gill was the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2023, he scored 890 runs with an average of 59.33 in 17 outings. In the WTC final, Shubman Gill was the choice for Playing XI, though he was not able to make an impact as scored 13 and 18 runs.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli loves to bat at number three in one-day matches, it would be interesting to see him bat at the third spot in the red-ball cricket. However, it will be not favourable to move him from his regular 4th position.
India's Test squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini. —ANI
