With KL back, Shubman to move to No. 3?

PTI

New Delhi, August 14

The ODI series against Zimbabwe will be KL Rahul’s dress rehearsal before the Asia Cup, and he is set to replace Shubman Gill as Shikhar Dhawan’s opening partner for the upcoming games.

With the T20 World Cup being of paramount importance this year, and Gill not in the scheme of things in the T20 format, he might be handed the No. 3 slot for the series against Zimbabwe. This can give captain Rahul enough game time before the Asia Cup, which starts on August 27.

Rahul Dravid won’t head the team of support staff for the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, which starts on August 18 in Harare. However, National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman, who will be with the team, is almost certain to follow the blueprint set by Dravid.

Rahul’s comeback also creates problems for the young Gill, who put up a stellar ODI performance in the West Indies, scoring 64, 43 and 98 not out in three matches to win the Player of the Series award.

So, will captain Rahul keep Gill at the top of the order, letting him go with the flow in the ODIs, or will Rahul himself move to the opener’s slot, with an eye on the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup?

“I think Shubman is being groomed in the right way by the Indian team management,” former national selector and Test opener Devang Gandhi said. “While he has done exceedingly well in the Caribbean ODIs, what I can gauge from this team’s philosophy is this — prepare players for multiple slots. Hence I feel for this particular series, Shubman might have to come in at No. 3.”

Deep Dasgupta, former India player-turned-commentator, agreed. “I agree it is difficult after you have had such a good series. But currently, the aim would be to prepare Rahul for the Asia Cup T20s opening slot. He needs to get a lot of batting time and that’s a priority,” Dasgupta, currently commentating in the UK, said. “I think it will be a short-term arrangement as Shubman, I feel, is being groomed as an opener for the ODI World Cup.”

In the 50-over set-up, since the home series against England in 2021, Rahul was being seen as a middle-order anchor rather than an opener, but when he led the team in the ODI series in South Africa, he promoted himself as an opener.

But in the last ODI that he played, against West Indies in Ahmedabad in February, both Rohit Sharma and Dhawan were in the playing XI, and this forced Rahul back into the middle-order.

So won’t it be unfair to take away Gill’s opening slot from him after his excellent performance in the West Indies? Gandhi feels not. “Look, No. 3 is a proper top-order slot. He might have to come in as early as the second ball of the innings and that is as good as opening the batting,” Gandhi said. “Also, my hunch is that once Rahul has enough game time under his belt, he will again bat in the middle-order, with Gill being prepared for the 2023 event (World Cup).”