Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria reckons skipper Rohit Sharma should bat at number three and Shubman Gill should open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the third Test match against New Zealand. Sharma hasn’t been in the best of forms in the recent past and returned with scores of 1 and 8 in the second Test against the Kiwis at Pune.
The Indian captain registered scores of 2 and 52 in the opening Test at Bengaluru. Kaneria reckons demoting himself to number three will help Rohit Sharma as he isn’t high on confidence while facing the new red ball as an opener.
Danish Kaneria said on his YouTube Channel, “With the kind of form Rohit Sharma is in, no doubt he has been a great player and has done a lot for Team India, it is my opinion that he should bat at No. 3. Shubman Gill should open with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Maybe it will give some more time to Rohit Sharma as he has been struggling with the new ball. The ball will swing and seam more in Australia, so maybe they can consider this.”
On the other hand, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel has picked all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for the Australia Tests. Kaneria wants the team to play Reddy in place of experienced batter KL Rahul from the opening Test.
“Instead of KL Rahul, India should play Nitish Kumar Reddy. He is a fantastic cricketer and can score quickly and is a very good fielder. KL Rahul has been under a lot of pressure. Now that India have selected Nitish, I hope they give him a chance from the first match itself.”
The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.
