Wanderers, 2013: All eyes were on the Indian dressing room as Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay were battling it out against Dale Steyn and Co. This was the first Test after Sachin Tendulkar had retired and the talk in the leadup had been all about his replacement at No. 4. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were padded up but when the latter walked in to bat at the fall of Vijay’s wicket, we all knew who would be the new king of Indian cricket. This time around, vice-captain Rishabh Pant has poured cold water on all the speculation by announcing that new captain Shubman Gill will be the heir apparent to the recentlyretired Kohli at No. 4. It is clear indication that the team management now considers Gill as their most valuable batter. “Once Virat retired, coach Gambhir and I had a discussion and he wanted me to bat at No. 4, an idea that I endorsed as well,” Gill said in Leeds on Thursday.Tendulkar and Kohli turned No. 4 into a glamour slot with the 13,492 and 7564 runs they scored batting at that position, but both also got oneslot promotions when they first took up the role. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, meanwhile, came down from No. 3 to No. 4, just like Gill, when he made that slot his own back in the 1980s. “I was batting at No. 3 before but when Vishy (GR Viswanath) retired, I was asked to come down at No. 4. It was slightly easier to bat at No. 4 than No. 3, because by the time I came in to bat, the ball often got slightly older,” Vengsarkar told TOI.
It was the Mumbai right-hander’s brilliant run with the bat at No. 4, when he got two centuries and a halfcentury, that helped India win a Test series in England in 1986. “That was one series where I wasn’t always getting the cushion of playing against the older ball. Our top three wasn’t in the best of touch and I was often batting pretty early on. But at the end of the day, it’s a game of confidence,” Vengsarkar said.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player? In the second innings of the second Test, when the master right-hander scored a 102 not out to seal the series, he had come out with the score reading 9-2. While Vengsarkar went into that England series having scored runs in that part of the world before, Gill hasn’t had a very good run in England. In the three Tests in England prior to this, the new captain aggregates a paltry 88. He needs to turn that record around pretty fast. The ball swinging in has been a cause of worry for the 25-year-old, and the new skipper has in the past often found his stumps rattled. “The one suggestion I can give Gill is that he should try to get his bat down a little straighter instead of it coming down from gully, like it is right now. The right forearm should touch his waist as he looks to play the ball. That will allow him to play straighter,” Vengsarkar said. The dual job of captaincy and batting at No. 4 is another aspect that the Mumbai man had handled pretty well during his playing days. Gill will have to do the same again in challenging conditions. The fact that there is a bit of inexperience around him may make this slightly difficult. But Vengsarkar believes Gill has the ability to deal with the pressure, given his natural talent.
