"Shubman Gill should have opened with Rohit Sharma"- Danish Kaneria on IND vs AUS 1st TestÂ
Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria feels Team India should have backed Shubman Gill as their opener with captain Rohit Sharma in the ongoing first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur.
There has been a lot of talk about why the hosts needed to back Gill ahead of Suryakumar Yadav at No.5, but Kaneria feels the young opener should have replaced vice-captain KL Rahul at the top of the order.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Danish Kaneria explained the importance of making the most of the form that Shubman Gill is in at the moment. He said:
"I personally feel Shubman Gill should have opened with Rohit Sharma. Although KL Rahul is your senior player, Gill is in incredible form and deserved the nod ahead of Rahul."
Danish Kaneria on Suryakumar Yadav's role
Danish Kaneria feels that debutant Suryakumar Yadav could play an important part for India in Nagpur due to the nature of the pitch. The former cricketer feels that with the odd ball turning and bouncing, it is important to have someone like SKY who will keep the scoreboard ticking.
On this. Kaneria stated:
"Interesting to see how Suryakumar Yadav bats on this surface. This could well work in his favor as on such a pitch, you need players who don't go into a shell and play their shots. With his sweeps and reverse sweeps, Suryakumar can have a real impact."
The hosts go into Lunch on day two at 151/3 after a riveting opening session.
India Playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami.
Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland.