India vs Australia: Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav to compete for Shreyas Iyer’s middle order slot | Cricket News
Iyer’s failure to recover from back spasms will certainly open a spot in India’s batting order and the choice will be between Surya, a career middleweight hitter whose factor X and Gill, who nearly opened for the national team in the Tests.
Iyer, who has been in steady form during his brief Test career, was India’s standout hitter in a 2-0 win in Bangladesh in December.
“When New Zealand arrives in India at the end of 2021, Shubman carry is being considered for medium order as KL Rahul is supposed to open with Mayank Agarwal. Then Rahul got injured and Gill opened the scoring. Then he got injured again. He’s being considered for middle ground in the red ball,” a BCCI source familiar with the development told PTI.
With the captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Rahul were the first-chosen openers in the team, followed by Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in third and fourth respectively, a place where number five becomes very important in the Indian context. Degree because that individual is supposed to play the second new ball.
In Gill’s case, being a Regular Test and initially starting his redball career as a middle hitter would certainly help his case.
“When Rahul Dravid control India A, Gill played in the middle order on a tour of the West Indies A, where he hit double a hundred in one of the Tests. To be fair, he was originally a middle hitter who was converted into a opener,” said the former national player.
In Surya’s case, his dominance over spinners on the turns of the swing was a key factor.
“In case Nathan Lyon have to turn him into a big breakout, then SKY can knock him down with his footwork. But against Cummins, Hazlewood, Gill might be the better choice,” he added.
Iyer, who missed the limited series at home against New Zealand, is yet to fully recover from a back injury and remains on National Cricket Academy to restore function.
