Shubman Gill OR KL Rahul: Who Should Open Batting With Rohit Sharma In India vs Australia 3rd Test? Ravi Shastri Answers

Zee News

Ravi Shastri, former coach of the Indian cricket team, has expressed his desire for Shubman Gill to be given another opportunity to play in the remaining Border-Gavaskar Tests against Australia. Despite Gill's recent impressive form in both red-ball and limited-overs cricket, he was not selected for the first two Tests as the selectors chose KL Rahul, who has been struggling, for the opening position.

Snapshots from #TeamIndia's training session here in Indore ahead of the third Test match against Australia.#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/yLmoBLxfYG

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Gill has been in excellent form, having scored his maiden Test century against Bangladesh in December and four white-ball centuries this year, including a magnificent 208 in an ODI against New Zealand last month. Shastri, speaking on The ICC Review, believes that it is the right time to bring back Gill and give him another chance to showcase his skills.

"He (Gill) is that good at the moment and whether he scores or doesn't score, on form, on merit, he deserves a chance," Shastri said. "When you have a player that confident and then his performances of late and the way he's batted -- there'll be a lot of players in that team thinking within themselves 'How's this guy not playing? They must be thinking, to be honest, it's like that, the dressing room. I know that dressing room. They'll be feeling, Gee man, this guy is hot," the former India coach said.

"Not at all. I mean, it's straight up, It comes down to performance," Shastri noted, when asked about how making changes to a winning team may affect chemistry. You stick it on the board. This is the performance. It's a tough thing for a coach, I remember I had to do it many times, where you just sit down, and explain to the player," Shastri said.

If Gill is selected for the third Test, which begins in Indore on Wednesday, the selectors will have to consider a few options when deciding on the final XI. Experienced top-order batsmen KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara have yet to perform in this series, and Shreyas Iyer only scored 16 runs in his two innings in the second Test in Delhi. Shastri has predicted that Gill will be included in India's top-order for the third Test and does not expect it to upset the team balance as they aim for a series sweep and a place in the ICC World Test Championship final in June. Shastri has also suggested that India opener KL Rahul may benefit from a break from cricket to regain his form and make a strong comeback.

"Sometimes a break for a player in those times is far better because you can go away, work on his game and come back stronger. I remember in my tenure, in the first Test at England, Pujara was dropped and he came back with hundreds. KL Rahul was dropped in Australia in 2019 and came back strongly too," Shastri said.

The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy between India and Australia is scheduled to begin on March 1 in Indore.