India tour of West Indies: Looking at India's number 3 options in Tests and rating them

As the Indian cricket embarks on the tour to West Indies under captain Virat Kohli and newly appointed coach Anil Kumble, there is a sense of hope and anticipation all around. Many feel that this is the best opportunity to reverse their poor overseas record in the recent past.

Even limited overs skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has delivered a motivational speech to lift the morale of the team. 

The players are in relatively good touch and there are plenty of options available for different slots which is like a sweet headache for the captain, coach and the selectors going into the first match of the cricket series. 

Much like the bowling, there are many different options available for different batting positions in the batting order. Several players have an eye on different numbers, and this is a good sign for Indian cricket.

Here we look at the top 5 contenders for the much important number 3 position in the batting line-up. 

#5 Rohit Sharma

There is no absolutely no doubt that Rohit has claimed his openers slot in white ball cricket. However, there are still many doubts over his test position and test batting. 

The fact that he kick-started his test career with two successive centuries and yet his average is 33.18 is a testament to his underachievement in this format. However, Virat Kohli has not given up on him and has tried him at the number 3 position on quite a few occasions. Much like his career the results have been mixed for him. 

He has managed to score two half-centuries in this position, one against Australia and one against Sri Lanka. However, his average is a lowly 21.40 in the 5 innings he has played at that position. 

Will captain Kohli trust him once more in the tour to West Indies remains to be seen, but if gets the nod and Rohit gets going, there are few better sights in cricket! 
For his unbridled potential and underachieving record we can only give him 4/10.