'Just because he has scored runs in T20Is....': Irfan on Rahul vs Gill debate ahead of India-Australia Tests

Shubman Gill has had a stellar run in international cricket in the recent past. During India's tour of Bangladesh in late 2022, he struck his maiden Test hundred and went onto slam a hundred in the Sri Lanka home ODIs before becoming the youngest to score a double ton in the 50-over format and recently became only the fifth India to log a ton in all formats with his maiden T20I ton. Having such a flawless run, one expects Gill to feature in India's playing XI for the four-match Test series opener versus Australia, in Nagpur on February 09.

Nonetheless, the competition is tough as India have preferred the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in Tests. The two were at their best during the England Tests in 2021 and were expected to open together during the Bangladesh series before captain Rohit got injured. With Rahul being his deputy, it will be tough for Gill to replace him. With no Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, either of the two can bat in the middle order as well but the questions remains as to who will open with Rohit. In this regard, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan shared his take.

“Not in all three formats but in two formats. If you talk about Test matches, you have two openers who have scored runs in difficult conditions, scored runs in England and won matches for India there. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are there, so suddenly because Shubman Gill has scored runs in the T20 format, you cannot ask them to step aside and let him play. You need the stability,” Pathan toldStar Sports.

Rohit and Rahul are expected to open the innings with Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill to follow suit. KS Bharat might don the wicketkeeping gloves with Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Axar Patel being the spin-bowling all-rounders whereas the likes of Mohammed Shami and Siraj are likely to handle the pace unit.

Squads

India (for first two Tests):Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

Australia:Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb (wk), Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner