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Former Indian all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri feels that with Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant injured, India should play Suryakumar Yadav at No.5 in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur.
With Rohit Sharma likely to open with KL Rahul, there has been a lot of talk about whether India will play Shubman Gill in the middle order, or hand SKY his Test debut.
However, speaking to the ICC, Ravi Shastri explained why it was important for a player like Suryakumar Yadav to bat in the middle order. He said:
"At number five, Suryakumar (Yadav) will get the position, because there’s no Shreyas (Iyer). There’ll be talk about, 'can (Shubman) Gill bat at five?’ I think you need the right guy for the right number. At five, when you go there, especially if the ball is turning, then you need someone who is good at playing the right shots against spin. Surya demands that position. I think it’s straightforward."
Ravi Shastri wants India to play the specialist wicketkeeper
India are dearly missing the services of Rishabh Pant with the bat as well as with the glove. Ravi Shastri feels the team management should take a call on who the better keeper is between Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat and not think about playing the better batter.
On this, he stated:
"Here you need a guy who's very good with the gloves, because you've got quality spinners. You've got Ash (Ashwin), you've got Jadeja, you've got Kuldeep. If the ball spins, you need a very good keeper. If you look at this Australian line-up, they've got some seasoned campaigners there. You don't want to miss out on a big player at 25 or 30, and he goes to get 130 and makes you pay for it."
Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Suryakumar Yadav.
