"The best of Virat came with the best of Pujara" - Aakash Chopra on choosing India's No. 3 for ENG vs IND 2025 4th Test

Former India player Aakash Chopra has highlighted the significance of the No. 3 position in the Indian team's batting order heading into the fourth Test against England. He pointed out that Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli excelled at No. 4 when Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara were scoring runs at No. 3.

India are 2-1 down in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy heading into the fourth Test starting in Manchester on July 23. While Sai Sudharsan batted at No. 3 for the visitors in the first Test, Karun Nair was promoted to that position for the last two Tests.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener was asked to choose among Nair, Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Washington Sundar for the No. 3 position for the Manchester Test.

"No. 3 is important. It's absolutely critical. Let me tell you a beautiful stat. In Sachin Tendulkar's golden era in Tests, when he scored a lot of runs, it was coincidentally also Rahul Dravid's best time in Test cricket. There were massive partnerships between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, and both flourished," Chopra responded (2:10).

"It was identical with Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. The best of Virat came with the best of Pujara. When the No. 3 does well, the No. 4 automatically starts doing well, provided there is a lot of quality there, as Tendulkar and Virat had. So No. 3 has been a problem area," he added.

Chopra opined that India shouldn't promote Washington to the No. 3 position.

"I won't vote in Washi's favor at the moment because you are playing in England, and the next match is in Manchester, where the ball moves. Washi is a good batter, but is he our best No. 3 option? No. 3 is not an experimental position. It's not a position where you would want to send an all-rounder," he reasoned.

Washington Sundar has aggregated 77 runs at an average of 25.67 in four innings in the two Tests he has played in the ongoing series. The spin-bowling all-rounder has never batted higher than No. 6 in Tests.

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"I would say look at Karun Nair as his last chance" - Aakash Chopra

Karun Nair has aggregated 131 runs at an average of 21.83 in six innings in the ongoing series against England. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra reckoned that India should persist with Karun Nair at No. 3 for one more Test and play either Sai Sudharsan or Abhimanyu Easwaran in the final Test if the Vidarbha batter isn't among the runs in Manchester.

"I would say look at Karun Nair as his last chance. It's good if he does well in this match, or else you can say that thirties and forties are not good enough, and then you move to either Sai Sudharsan or Abhimanyu Easwaran. You feel at times that you should go to Sai Sudharsan only because you played him the first match," he said (4:00).

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Shubman Gill and company should play Sudharsan ahead of Easwaran if they don't want to continue with Nair.

"With the same token, you think what Abhimanyu Easwaran has done wrong. You take him on every tour, but don't play him even one match, and when you play, you shouldn't write his obituary after just one match. So it is going to be a tough one. I would say play Karun Nair one more game, and if you don't wish to play him, then go to Sai Sudharsan, because you had played him a match earlier," Chopra elaborated.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra noted that Sai Sudharsan should play the last two Tests if India go with him in Manchester. He added that Abhimanyu Easwaran, if required, can then be considered for the subsequent series.