Sunil Gavaskar names the Indian player who should bat at No.6 in Tests

The sixth position in the Indian batting order has seen regular changes in the ongoing Test series in Australia. While the first and third Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne saw Rohit Sharma manning the position, the second and fourth Tests in Perth and Sydney saw Hanuma Vihari doing the job there. However, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels neither Rohit nor Vihari should bat at the crucial position.

India saw a record-creating 204-run partnership for the seventh wicket between wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant and bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in just 224 balls in Sydney. Pant hit an unbeaten 159 while Jadeja scored 81. The mammoth partnership made Gavaskar feel that Pant is the ideal choice as India’s No.6 for he can convert “starts into hundreds”.

Pant became the Indian wicket-keeper with the highest individual score abroad in Tests and almost eclipsed AB de Villiers as the visiting keeper with the highest individual score on Australian soil. Pant is India’s and the series’ second-highest scorer with 350 runs and had quite a few starts in the earlier matches that he could not turn into big scores.

‘Pant had consistently good starts in the series’

“If at all, you’re looking at balancing the team out, then you have got to have Pant batting at No. 6. Every single game, he has contributed 30s and 40s. In Sydney, he scored a 159. Before that, he has consistently got starts, which makes him a very useful batsman to have at No. 6. The more responsibility you give him at No. 6, he will convert a lot of those 30s and 40s into 100s,” Gavaskar told India Today.

At No.6, a position which was once dominated by ace batsmen like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, saw Vihari scoring 111 runs so far. Rohit has scored 106 runs in that position in four innings. Gavaskar feels sending an in-form Pant batting in at No.6 will give them the time to transform good starts into big knocks, eventually helping India.

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