‘Neither Gill nor Nair’- Sanjay Bangar reveals his No. 3 pick

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar believes that neither Shubman Gill nor Karun Nair should bat at No. 3 in the Test series against England, which begins on Friday, June 20 in Headingley, Leeds.

The cricketer-turned-expert believes Shubman may play at No. 4, a position vacated by Virat Kohli after the veteran announced his retirement from red-ball cricket on May 12.

Sanjay Bangar advised that either Sai Sudharsan or Abhimanyu Easwaran bat at No. 3 against the Three Lions.

“I don’t think any of them are in my book (Gill or Karun at #3?). If Karun does play, he will bat somewhat later in the order. All indicators point to Shubman Gill batting at number four. So it’s a toss-up between Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran for third place. Easwaran also performed well in one of their practice matches’, Bangar told India Today.

Bangar believes that Nair, who recently produced a stunning double century in the maiden unofficial Test between India A and England Lions in Canterbury, may bat deeper down the order at No. 6 behind wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.

“I don’t think there will be any difference there. One of the two will play at number three. Shubman Gill will be ranked fourth, followed by Rishabh Pant and Karun Nair at fifth and sixth, respectively. “That is my understanding of the situation,” Bangar stated.

There are also some doubts about how the seam-bowling attack would appear. Jasprit Bumrah is likely to start, and Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna could join him. However, Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep would want to perform well in the intra-squad game in Kent, giving team management a pleasant selection headache. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur are the two seam-bowling all-rounders on the team. Both performed well in the two unofficial Tests between India A and England Lions. One of them should receive the nod.