Manchester [UK], July 27 : Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting backed young Indian batter Sai Sudharsan to be "good enough" for a number three spot in the future and urged the team management to show faith in him.
The number three debate was once again up following a shaky start to India's second innings at Manchester.
Aiming to overcome a 311-run deficit, Chris Woakes sent opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sudharsan both packing for ducks. In the previous innings, though, Sudharsan had shown signs of promise and his remarkable temperament, scoring 61 in 151 balls with seven fours, powering India to 358 along with other fifties from Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant.
Since India has moved on from Cheteshwar Pujara following the loss to Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final, India has tried skipper Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Sudharsan and Karun Nair at number three. Except for a fine run during the home season from Gill, all these experiments have produced below-par results during away series in Australia and England.
With 91 runs in four innings, Sudharsan, at the age of 23, does look like a promising prospect, but his manner of dismissals has raised some questions about whether he is ready for that spot yet. During the second innings at Manchester, he could not decide if he wanted to play or leave the delivery bowled outside off stump and edged it to Harry Brook at second slip.
His indecisiveness led to India sinking to 0/2 just before the first session ended, leaving the hard task of rebuilding to Rahul and Gill.
Speaking about Sudharsan, who was handed a Test debut at Leeds and then discarded in favour of Karun Nair for the next two games, Ponting said that internal pressure is being created by playing so many options at number three, a pressure a youngster does not need coming into a role.
"You do not need that looking over your shoulder all the time, worried that if you're going to get another opportunity. That is why I was really surprised that they made the call on Sudharsan, obviously for the first test match here, and then went away from him and then went straight back to him again. For a young bloke, and you know, I was not that young when I moved up to number three, but you just wanted that bit of reassurance from your captain and from your coaches that, okay, we are picking you now, we're going to give you a decent run at it and see how you go. Because I have no doubt that Sudharsan is going to be good enough. But they have got to show that faith in him," he added while speaking on Sky Sports.
Ponting urged the Indian management to back their players like England skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum do for their players, with openers Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope being key examples. Despite their inconsistencies and often patchy form, they still remain a vital part of the set-up as opener and number three, respectively.
"If you trust them and keep backing them in, they are going to play these big, match-winning innings for you at some stage," he concluded.
In 30 first-class matches, Sudharsan has scored 1,987 runs at an average of 38.96, with seven centuries and five fifties in 51 innings, with a best score of 213.
Earlier in the fourth Day of the Test match, India recovered after initial shocks in their second innings of the fourth Test, but the team is still in deep waters with England scoring a massive 669 in their first innings and getting an overall lead of 311 runs over the visitors, who had made 358 runs in the second innings.
Big centuries from Joe Root and skipper Stokes and some extra runs from tailenders proved to be a serious headache for India. The Indian second innings began on a shocking note with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan going back to the pavilion on a duck. KL Rahul and Captain Shubman Gill steadied India's innings with a patient and stellar stand of 174 runs.
India finished Day 4 on 174/2 and are now 137 runs behind England. If the Indian team can salvage the match on the fifth and final day on Sunday, it will be an achievement in itself. England went wicketless in the final session as Indian batters added 126 runs to their tally, with KL Rahul 87* and Shubman Gill 78* unbeaten on the crease.
India started the third session at 86/2 with Gill, who looked in fine touch, notched up his eighth Test fifty and fourth against England off 77 deliveries.
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