‘Not a good chance’: Gautam Gambhir confirms Sai Sudharsan at No.3 for Afghanistan Test

NEW DELHI: India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Friday confirmed that left-handed batsman Sai Sudharsan will bat at number three in the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting in New Chandigarh on Saturday.“Sai Sudharsan didn’t get a fair chance. He played in England. We will give him a longer rope,” Gambhir said during the pre-match press conference.“We can (only) pick 11 (players) and Sai is not in bad form. He has scored 700 runs in IPL. If we judge Sai based on 4-5 games, we will never be able to build anything,” he added.The number three position has remained volatile for India in Test cricket ever since Cheteshwar Pujara retired from the side. Since then, seven different one-drop tests have been tried, but none have managed to spot their own. Some of them were also not given extended time in this role. Pujara announced his retirement in 2025, although his last Test appearance for India came in the 2023 World Test Championship final.Shubman Gill had the longest stint at number three before moving to number four after becoming Test captain following the departure of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the format.Since Gill’s transfer, Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal have moved up to third place.India’s 2-0 defeat in the home series against South Africa highlighted the uncertainty over the placement. Sundar was promoted to number three in the first Test at the Eden Gardens, but was moved back down the order after India’s batting struggles.Sudharsan returned to number three in the second Test in Guwahati against South Africa but managed scores of 15 and 14.The left-hander has played six Tests so far and averages just over 27.Despite India being sixth in the World Test Championship standings with 48.15 per cent points, Gambhir said the team still believes they can challenge for the title.“We believe we can win the WTC. There is talent and hunger in this team,” Gambhir said. In a quick turnaround after the IPL, Gambhir said, “There are no excuses. Test matches are about mental toughness.”

Which player do you think could best man the number three position for India?