(Cricket news) India recently lost the World Test Championship final to Australia. Now they have to play 2 away Test matches against the West Indies which will be a part of the 2023-25 World Test Championship calendar. The squad has a couple of changes as Mohammed Shami is rested while Umesh Yadav is out due to an injury. Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from the side after a poor show in the Border Gavaskar trophy and the WTC final. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have earned their maiden call-ups. That number three position needs to be filled and there are a few candidates to do so.

Both Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal open the batting in domestic cricket but either could be asked to bat at three. Jaiswal is probably higher than Gaikwad on the preference list and will provide India with a left-hander at number 3 which is a big plus. The other option would be to let Jaiswal play in his natural opening position and ask Shubman Gill to bat at 3. The team’s best batter usually bats at 3 or 4 and in a couple of years time Gill will be the best. The middle order has been touted to be Gill’s eventual position and now will be a good time to do that.

Ajinkya Rahane could bump up the order at number 3 as well which means that the new middle-order batter could bat at 5. What that will do is allow Gill or Jaiswal to bat freely in their naturally aggressive way. Whatever happens, the debutant needs to be backed and meanwhile, seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli need to fire. India’s batting in the last cycle was way below par and this time that needs to improve. The bowling unit is significantly weaker so the Indian batters have to step up on this tour.

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