Ryan Ten Doeschate, India's assistant coach, acknowledged that Sai Sudharsan or Devdutt Padikkal should be given a long rope at the crucial batting position because too many players have batted at number three in Test matches since Cheteshwar Pujara's departure.
His remarks coincide with the June 6 one-off Test match against Afghanistan at New Chandigarh.
Although Pujara last represented India in the WTC final in 2023, he declared his retirement in 2025. Since then, Washington Sundar, Karun Nair, Padikkal, Sudharsan, and Shubman Gill have all been tested for that role. After playing six Test matches, Sudharsan's average of more than 27 is not particularly noteworthy.
"There's been a lot of changes in that spot, and that's not ideal, you know. You need to look at the incumbents for that role and maybe stick with someone," Ten Doeschate said at a press conference on Thursday.
Sudharsan and Padikkal spent a lot of time in nets prepping for the Afghanistan Test; the assistant coach didn’t want to spill the beans about the one who would make it. Padikkal was also seen standing in the slips alongside Shubman Gill and KL Rahul.
On the other hand, Sudharsan once again lost grip on his bat, which slipped and flew backward, as it had happened in IPL twice.
"It's a difficult position to bat in and a very important position to bat. Dev comes in with a ton of runs in domestic cricket across all the formats, and obviously, Sai's been high on runs in IPL with Gujarat, so they're both in good form.
"Whoever plays, they'll be given a bit of a run. That's quite difficult with one Test match now, and then we don't play a Test match for another two months, and then we play two Test matches, and then you don't play for a while. So, you know, we need to factor that in," Ten Doeschate said.
However, he maintained that one needs to quickly decide and continue with the person of choice.
"The main point around there is we want to make a decision and then trust that person to grow into the role, and ideally, quickly. Where do we find ourselves in the WTC table? It's probably something we could have done better, leading up to this is maybe backing someone in a different spot,” he added.
Ten Doeschate also said only one among Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey will play alongside Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav in the one-off Test.
Manav Suthar appears to be a much more deft bowler than Harsh Dubey based only on net performance, but the Vidarbha slow left-arm orthodox bowler’s superior batting abilities may earn him his first Test cap. With a first-class ton under his belt, Suthar is no mug.
"The chance of both of them playing in the Test is probably pretty small. We haven't finalized the combination, but I imagine Kuldeep will play and Washington will play, and then one of those two will play.
I would imagine we play two seamers and a spinning all-rounder and two spinners (spin-all-rounders) if you consider that the two guys we brought in can bat a little bit as well." "It's going to be nine crucial Test matches in the WTC cycle, and sort of our last chance of making that final, which is the top priority at the moment,” ten Doeschate added.
The India v Afghanistan Test is not part of the WTC 2027 competition and is the first between the two sides since 2018.
(PTI inputs)
