Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting talked about the importance of Virat Kohli and the need for India to find someone who has the ability to bat at No. 4 for as many as three Tests in Virat Kohli’s absence.
Virat Kohli will feature in only the first test, which will be a day-night affair at Adelaide and will miss the last 3 tests as he will head home to attend the birth of the first child. The topic came for discussion too often as less than a week is remaining for the first Test to start as his replacement at No. 4 spot has become a hot debate.
Sunil Gavaskar Says Ajinkya Rahane Will Bat At No. 4 Once Virat Kohli Leaves
Sunil Gavaskar said it should be vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who would be the skipper in Virat Kohli’s absence and should bat at the crucial No.4 position after Virat Kohli leaves for the birth of his first child.
“Virat’s obviously there only for the first Test then you’d expect Rahane to take over (as captain) but they (India) have to find someone to bat at No.4. Who do you expect to take that No.4 spot?” asked former Australia skipper Ponting, who was the host of the panel discussion aired on 7 cricket, the official broadcaster of India vs Australia Tests.
“It looks to me it could be KL Rahul. Or no, actually I think Rahane will go at No.4 once Virat goes away,” Sunil Gavaskar said in reply.
The former Indian opener and ex-skipper then said it would be a toss-up between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill for the No.5 spot. Shubman Gill is yet to debut in tests while KL Rahul has opened mostly in tests too like in limited-overs where he is a regular.
“Then you might have Rahul bat at No.5 or Shubman Gill,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Interestingly, both KL Rahul and Virat Kohli did not feature in any of the two warm-up games. In contrast, Ajinkya Rahane, who is all set to take over as the India captain after Virat Kohli’s departure, led India in the two tour games besides notching up an unbeaten century in the first innings in the first tour game.
Sunil Gavaskar: Australia Have Experience Of Playing More Pink Ball Tests
Sunil Gavaskar said Australia have the experience of playing more pink-ball Tests while he talked about the first-ever day-night Test between the two sides.
“I would think whoever bats well is going to win the game. Australia has played a lot of (day-night) matches, they have the experience of knowing exactly what happens when the sun’s going down and how to bat and bowl at that particular point of time,” he said.
There have been 14-day night tests so far, and Australia have featured in seven of them and India played only one Test previously against Bangladesh at Kolkata where they won by an innings. Australia have won all of the seven day-night Tests which they played.