Team India badly missed the 6th bowling option during their ODI series defeat against Australia. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is remodelling his action following a back surgery, is not 100% fit to bowl which is affecting the balance of the side.

As the team management mulls over a solution for the problem, former India opener Gautam Gambhir has come up with a suggestion.

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According to Gambhir, the in-form Ravindra Jadeja should be promoted to No. 5 while KL Rahul moves further up at No. 4 spot in the batting order.

“I would probably want him to bat at number five because then you can have KL Rahul bat at number four, Virat Kohli at number three and then Jadeja at five, Pandya at six, and you can have another all-rounder at number seven. Use his form. My point has always been very simple. If you make someone bat at number seven, he will bat like a number seven. If you make him bat like a number four or five, he will bat like it and that is how it has always been with everyone,” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.

Gambhir also suggested that the Men in Blue should pick one batsman less and play another all-rounder in the form of Krunal Pandya or Axar Patel, especially when it comes to T20Is in order to make the team combination more balance.

“You ask someone to open the batting and he starts thinking like an opener. Jadeja has got the ability. We all know that he has got the ability, he has a Test hundred, got runs in all conditions in white-ball cricket and why not push him at number five and see whether we can work with the combination because you open up one spot you can play a number six bowler who can chip in with overs. You can play another left-arm spinner like Krunal Pandya or Axar Patel,” he opined.

Trailing 0-1 in the T20I series, Australia will look to bounce back in order to stay alive in the three-match series when they face India in the second game at SCG on Sunday (December 6).