IND Vs ENG: Wasim Jaffer Advices Shubman Gil To Rejig Batting Position, Asks Rohit Sharma To Sacrifice Opening Spot

Shubman Gill’s major success in Tests came while opening the innings. Out of 1063 runs in his Test career, Gill scored 864 while opening the batting for India.

New Delhi: Former India opener Wasim Jaffer felt that captain Rohit Sharma should bat at No.3 in the second Test against England allowing Shubman Gill to open the innings with Yashavi Jasiwal. Jaffer’s comments come in following Gill’s poor run in red-ball cricket for India compared to his numbers in the white-ball format, the most recent being against England in the first Test I Hyderabad.

Notably, Gill started his career in Test cricket as an opener before choosing to bat at one down last year during the West Indies tour in July. Statistically, Gill has got success in Tests while opening the innings. In 16 matches as an Test opener, Gill scored 874 runs at an average of 32.37. Overall, the right-hander has fared in 21 Tests so far, with 1063 runs in his tally.

“Gill and Jaiswal should open and Rohit should bat at no.3 in 2nd Test in my opinion. Waiting to bat for his turn isn’t helping Shubman, it’s better he opens the innings,” Jafferw wrote on social media platform X (Twitter). The former cricketer also opined that Rohit plays spin well on Indian pitches and it won’t be a problem for the Indian skipper to bat any position other than the opening position.

Gill and Jaiswal should open and Rohit should bat at no.3 in 2nd test in my opinion. Waiting to bat for his turn isn’t helping Shubman, it’s better he opens the inn. Rohit plays spin really well, so batting at no.3 should not worry him too much. #INDvENG

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 29, 2024

“Rohit plays spin really well, so batting at no.3 should not worry him too much. #INDvENG,” he added. In the first Test against England, Gill couldn’t do much. Although he managed 23 in the first innings, he got out for a duck in the second.

In Visakhapatnam, the pitch will not be completely different as compared to the one used in Hyderabad during the first game. That means, the batters will also have their task cut out against the likes of Jack Leach, Joe Root and Tom Hartley.

It is imperative for the Indian batters to find their range against England spinners, who might also bring in off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who had reconnected with the rest of the team on Sunday after the visa mess.

India’s failure was two-fold in Hyderabad. Veterans R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the company of Axar Patel failed to rattle England on a slow-turning pitch, allowing them to pile 420 in the second innings on the back of Ollie Pope’s sensational 196.

When their turn came to chase 231, the Indian batters surrendered to the guiles of left-arm spinner Hartley in the second innings as the debutant walked away with seven wickets. Notably, India will not get the services of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul in the second Test as they were ruled out due to injuries. Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Sourabh Kumar have been called for the second Test.

With Agency Inputs