Ricky Ponting gave the suggestion in view of the WTC final in England.
On a pitch that offered sharp turn, the hosts were bowled out for 109 and 163 across the two innings and eventually lost the match by nine wickets in two days and a session.
As a result, India also missed the chance of securing a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. The Rohit Sharma-led side will now have to win the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad to seal a WTC final spot.
Ahead of the series-decider, Australian batting great Ricky Ponting is confident that India would make the WTC final and he also suggested an out-of-the-box move in the batting order to the home team.
India dropped KL Rahul from the playing XI in the third Test after his extended lean patch with the bat. In his place, Shubman Gill opened the batting for India alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
Speaking on the ICC Review, Ponting said both Gill and Rahul should be part of the line-up for the WTC final, slated to be played at the Oval from June 7 to 11.
Ponting backed Rahul based on his impressive stats in England, where the opener has scored two of his seven Test centuries. However, the former Australia skipper wants Rahul to be used as a middle-order batter.
"With someone like KL Rahul having gone out of this side and Shubman Gill having come in, both these guys have played a bit of Test match cricket and you could potentially have both of those guys in the same team,” Ponting suggested.
"Maybe Shubman could start at the top and KL could potentially move down into the middle order, because he's played cricket in those (English) conditions before, albeit at the top of the order.
“But one thing we know about the UK is that the ball swings for long periods of time during the day. And if the overhead conditions are suitable, then the ball tends to swing right the way through an innings."
The fourth and final Test between India and Australia is due to get underway on March 9.