On Shubman Gill Requesting Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma To Bat At No. 3, Ex-India Opener Calls It 'Unusual'

13.07.2023 - 07:51 sports.ndtv.com

Ahead of the first Test against West Indies in Dominica, India captain Rohit Sharma had confirmed that young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal will be making his debut for the team.

Rohit had revealed that Yashasvi will open the innings alongside him, with Shubman Gill coming in at No.3. The Indian skipper had suggested that Gill has expressed his wish to play one down.

Former India opening batter Aakash Chopra, however, believes it is unusual for a player to request for a change in the batting order in Indian cricket. "Shubman Gill told team management that he wanted to play at no.3.

It's a very interesting thing, because you don't usually hear such things happening in Indian cricket. You don't see a player telling team management that he likes to bat in a particular position.

cricket India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team 2023 on Rohit Sharma Rahul Dravid Shubman Gill India Dominica

India meet the West Indies in the third and final ODI at Trinidad on Tuesday with the series on the line. While the visitors won the opening game, the hosts restored parity in the following match-up with a six-wicket win. India rested skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the previous match and former India cricketer Aakash Chopra feels they should continue experimenting if the management thinks that's the way forward. “If you were to look at the series for experiments, why stop? If you're going in with the philosophy that ‘I am going to try a lot of cricketers, I'm going to give chances to the players who haven't gotten enough game time.' Why change? You've done it in the first game, you've done it in the second game. Just give more opportunities to the players who haven't gotten enough in the past,” said Aakash Chopra on JioCinema.

Shubman Gill Shatters Babar Azam's All-Time Record In 2nd ODI Against West Indies

The Indian cricket team went down to West Indies in the 2nd ODI on Sunday after a catastrophic batting collapse saw the team score only 181 runs. India's defeat in the match left a sour taste in the mouths of fans, especially considering the opening stand that Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan had put. In fact, during the course of his 34-run knock in the match, Gill went on to break Pakistan superstar Babar Azam's long-standing record.

"Rohit Sharma Can Come One Down With Virat Kohli At 4": Ex-Pakistan Star's Surprising Advice

The Indian cricket team were completely outplayed by West Indies as they slumped to a six-wicket loss in the second ODI match in Barbados. The visitors decided to rest both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after winning the first match of the series but their batters were unable perform on Saturday as India were all out for just 181. Former Pakistan opener Salman Butt believes that the current India team lacks players who can ideally replace Rohit or Virat at present and he had an interesting solution to the problem. Butt said that India can experiment with the opening pair of Shubman Gill and Shikhar Dhawan with Rohit and Kohli coming at No.3 and No.4 respectively.

#SackDravid Trends On Twitter After India's Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Gamble Backfires In 2nd ODI

The absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the Indian team for the 2nd ODI left many baffled. As the hunt for the perfect team combination for the forthcoming ODI World Cup continues, the fact that the Indian team management decided to rest the two senior-most players -- Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma -- didn't go down well with many fans and experts. To make the matters worse, India lost the match to West Indies after only managing to put 181 runs on the board. Seeing the Indian team struggle on Saturday, fans started to target head coach Rahul Dravid on Twitter.

Why Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Didn't Play 2nd ODI? Rahul Dravid Gives Intriguing Explanation

Hoping to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, Team India suffered a shocking loss to West Indies in the second ODI on Saturday. After opting to bat, India stand-in captain Hardik Pandya opted to bat, with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli rested. Sanju Samson was added into the XI, but failed to make a mark as India were bowled out for 181 in 40.5 overs. Ishan Kishan (55) and Shubman Gill (34) added 90 runs for the first wicket, before the visitors suffered a batting collapse.

On Shubman Gill's Poor Show In West Indies, Ex-India Star Points Out Flaws

Former India batter WV Raman highlighted two aspects that youngster Shubman Gill needs to work on to consistently score runs in the longest format of the game. Despite cementing his place in the Indian team in all three formats, Gill has failed to impress experts and fans with his batting in the longest format of the game. The 23-year-old averages 65.55 in ODIs, 40.40 in T20Is, but when it comes to Test cricket, he only averages 19. In the recently concluded Test series, Gill failed to get beyond 29 in three innings. Even in the first ODI, Gill was out for 7.