India Test team captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the innings in the Test series against the West Indies.
Shubman Gill, who has opened the batting for India in the recent past, has expressed his wish to bat at No. 3.
Gill has been opening the innings with Rohit since making his long format debut against Australia in 2021.
"As far as batting order is concerned, Gill will bat at No. 3 as he himself wants to play at that slot. He himself went up to Rahul bhai (coach Dravid) and requested that since he has played all his cricket at No. 3 and 4, he feels he could contribute more for team in that slot," said Rohit during a press conference on the eve of the 1st Test at Dominica.
Rohit welcomed the change in the top order since it paved way for a left-right combination, something that India have struggled to accomplish since Gautam Gambhir's retirement.
India had recently played a two-day warm-up game wherein they got the chance to try out this new combination.
It was in 2019 when Gill was part of India's 'A' team and batted at different positions, including 3, 4, and 5.
Rohit also confirmed that the Men in Blue will go in with three seamers and two spinners, the latter being Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
"In 2017 in Pakistan vs West Indies game, lot of wickets were taken by spinners and last few days when we trained, we also found that there is some bounce on offer," Rohit said.
While Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur appear to have secured the two seamers' spot, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Jaydev Unadkat will have to fight to earn their spot in the side.
