Gautam Gambhir has joined the list of cricket experts who are trying to figure out what will be India's best possible combination when they step on the field to take on against England at the start of the 5-Test series in Edgbaston on August 1.
One of India's big dilemma is the opening combination, as the team management led by captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri continue to ponder over the important cog in any good Test team's wheel. There are three options - KL Rahul, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan - and India will have to drop one of them unless they choose the not far-fetched option of going with all three.
Gautam gave his insight into the hot topic recently to Cricbuzz and picked his opening combination saying, "That's a tricky question because Shikhar Dhawan got a hundred in the last Test match, but to maintain continuity I would definitely go with KL Rahul and Murali Vijay and play Chesteshwar Pujara at three"
Gambhir also has a lot of faith in Cheteshwar Pujara and believes that he is the one whom India should back for the responsibility to bat at no.3 in England.
He said, "Pujara is going to be a very important member in the batting line-up of the five-match Test series and they might look to Rahul to play at three and open with Shikhar and Murali. Two batters who I have lots of faith on is Murali and Pujara. Virat Kohli is always important in Test matches, but these two batsmen have to score runs and sometimes playing time in England is very important as well because everything depends on overhead conditions."
"There are moments when you have to play some gritty and ugly sessions where you are just trying to hold on and cash in once the sun is out and who else better than Pujara can do that. He has got the ability to play time and lot of people might debate that he has had an ordinary county season, but he still remains an important part of the batting unit and so we should start with someone like him. And if you don't give him that confidence it might turn out to be a tricky situation for India,"
(Inputs from TIMESNOW.COM)
