'Neither Gill nor Nair' - Sanjay Bangar reveals his No. 3 pick

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar believes that neither Shubman Gill nor Karun Nair should bat at No. 3 during the Test series against England, starting on Friday, June 20, at Headingley, Leeds.

The cricketer-turned-expert feels that Shubman could play at No. 4, which has been vacated by Virat Kohli after the stalwart announced his retirement from red-ball cricket on May 12.

For the No.3 spot, Bangar suggested that either Sai Sudharsan or Abhimanyu Easwaran should bat at the crucial position against the Three Lions.

"I think none of them in my book (Gill or Karun at No. 3?). If at all Karun is playing, he would bat slightly lower down the order. All indications are that Shubman Gill may bat at No. 4. So, the toss up at No. 3 is going to be between Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran. Easwaran also got a good score in one of the practice matches they played," Bangar was quoted as saying by India Today.

Bangar reckons that Nair, who recently scored a fantastic double century in the first unofficial Test between India A and England Lions in Canterbury, could bat lower down the order at No. 6 behind wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.

"I don’t think there is going to be any difference there. One of those two will play at No. 3. No. 4 will be Shubman Gill and No 5 will be Rishabh Pant and No. 6 would be Karun Nair. That’s my understanding of the situation," said Bangar.

There are also some questions regarding how the seam-bowling attack would look as well. Jasprit Bumrah is set to start, and he could be joined by Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. However, Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep would look to do well in the intra-squad game in Kent to give the team management a pleasant selection headache. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur are the two seam-bowling all-rounders in the squad. Both of them fared decently in the two unofficial Tests between India A and England Lions. One of them should get the nod.