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Legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble wants Shubman Gill to remain at no.3 position if skipper Rohit Sharma missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener at Perth Stadium due to personal reasons. Kumble understands the temptation to return Gill to his original position temporarily but wants KL Rahul to take up the role.
"You know he (Shubman) is exceptionally talented, skilful and he's done that. He's been to Australia before. Like you mentioned, in Brisbane, he got a wonderful fifty there and he knows the conditions," Kumble told broadcasters as toss for first Test of the series between India and New Zealand at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru was delayed due to rain.
"I don't want to change that. I know there's a temptation to push Shubman Gill because Rohit is not available in the first Test. But, there's always KL Rahulâ€æ that name is synonymous with change and adapting to whatever the team wants. Whether you want to open the batting or keep wickets, Rahul Dravid did that, now KL Rahul is doing that," he said.
Gill and Rahul’s numbers in Australia
While Kumble compared Rahul to his former teammate Rahul Dravid, the 32-year-old does not have a good record in Australia despite a century. He has scored 187 runs from nine innings at an average of 20.77.
On the other hand, Gill averages 51.80 in Australia with 259 runs from six innings including the 91-run knock in the iconic run chase at the Gabba, Brisbane.
Kumble hails Dravid and Pujara
Kumble recalled how Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara excelled in the tough role and the changes Gill will have to make to make life easy for the middle order.
"You said, for the last 25 years, there have been only two players who have been consistently playing and and and it's a tough role. I mean, both those batsmen, Rahul and Cheteshwar, contributed immensely during that period, and you know you have to balance it out. You could probably be batting the second ball of the test match, or you could be batting much later when the conditions are easier," Kumble said.
"But more often than not, you get in there to control that first session and see off the new ball because we know that the Kookaburra Ball after the 1st 2.5 hours, the best time to bat is between the 30th over and the 60th over. And that's what these two batters did throughout their careers, ensuring that the team was safe and the four number four, number five and number six batters, came in much later into the lineup so that they could comfortably bat and score the runs.
"So Shubman will have to play that role very specifically in Australia. He may have to change a little bit based on the conditions. He has the ability (to do that) as well," the 53-year-old added.
