Newly-appointed Test captain Shubman Gill will bat at number four in the upcoming five-match Test series against England, starting June 20. Vice-captain Rishabh Pant confirmed the development in the press conference in Leeds. The keeper-batter also confirmed that he will be batting at number five.
He also noted that the discussion is still ongoing about who will bat at number three. India have three options to choose from - Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan. Notably, Easwaran travelled with the national team for the Australia series, but he warmed the bench, even when Rohit was not available or dropped.
Karun, on the other hand, scored a terrific double century against England Lions earlier in the month, while Sudharsan doesn’t have enough experience in his bag. The team management is likely to take a call after assessing the conditions on the match day.
“I think numbers four and five are fixed. There is still discussion going on who will bat at No 3. Shubham will go in at No 4 and I am gonna stick to number 5. Rest, we are gonna discuss on that,” Pant said in the pre-match press conference.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul likely to open
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are very likely to open in the Test series. The duo opened in the second unofficial Test against England Lions, where Rahul went on to score a century. Jaiswal, on the other hand, was India’s leading run-scorer in the last World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. He showed character in the warm-up games, but the cricketer would hope that the best is yet to come.
Pant talks about Ahmedabad plane crash
270 people have lost their lives in the recent Ahmedabad plane crash. Out of which, 241 of them were travelling to London, while the rest were medical students and people near the BJ Medical Hostel, where the aircraft crashed. Speaking on the same, Pant noted that the whole country is disheartened and the Indian team will try to make everyone happy in the upcoming series.
"What happened in the aircraft (crash), I think the whole India was disheartened but at the same time the only thing from our side…we are going to be sticking with them, how we can make India happy again. Obviously, the emotion is going to be high because of what happened in the crash but at the same time we are going to put our best foot forward for the country, how we can make them happy and that's an added responsibility always," Pant said.
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