Shubman Gill, who used to open for India has been pushed to the No. 3 spot ever since the debut of Jaiswal on the West Indies tour last year while Rohit has continued to open. Notably, Gill hasn’t had much success in the longer format compared to what he has achieved in ODIs so far and questions are being asked why he has been dropped down to the no. 3 spot.
Rohit Sharma recently addressed the query ahead of the 2nd Test between India and South Africa, sharing that it was Gill who himself wanted to bat at number 3 but feels there’s not much difference.
“To be honest, there is not much difference (between opening and number 3). It takes just one ball for a number 3 to go in. And sometimes when the opener gets injured in first innings, number 3 has to walk out and open the innings. So I don’t see much difference there. It’s a very individual thing,” Rohit Sharma said on Tuesday.
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“Gill is smart and understands his batting pretty well. Obviously, he prefers that number. He has batted in the Ranji Trophy at that number around that position a fair bit. He has opened in limited overs, Test cricket as well but that was was his preference. He feels he can do well for us batting at that position. It is an individual thing as to how you think about certain positions where you bat,” he further added.
However, Rohit Sharma has also batted at number 3 in Test cricket and his stats – 107 runs at 21.40 in four Tests – indicate that he didn’t enjoy batting in that position. However, Rohit has played 26 of his 53 Tests as an opener and has scored 2097 runs while having an average of 51.14 with seven centuries and a high score of 212. Overall, he has 3682 runs at 45.45 including 10 centuries and 16 half-centuries as well.
“I personally hated batting at number 3. So that’s my opinion. Either you open the batting or you wait a little to go down the order to bat at number 5 or 6. Since I started opening, from no 3 onwards till number 7, I don’t think it is the right position for anyone,” he concluded.
