New Chandigarh, June 5 (IANS) India head coach Gautam Gambhir has thrown his weight behind young batter Sai Sudharsan, confirming that the left-hander will occupy the crucial No. 3 position in the one-off Test against Afghanistan beginning here from Saturday.

Speaking ahead of the match, Gambhir stressed the need to show patience with Sudharsan, who is set to get another opportunity in a batting slot that has remained unsettled since Cheteshwar Pujara’s exit from the Test side.

“Sai Sudharsan hasn’t got a fair chance. He played in England. We will give him a longer rope,” Gambhir said during the pre-match press conference.

Asked if Padikkal get a chance given his red-ball form, Gambhir said he would get his chance when the time was right, Gambhir said, “You can only pick XI, unfortunately. Sometimes you just have to wait for your opportunity. I’ve always believed that guys who we are going to play, we give them a fair run. And again, Sai is not in bad form either. He has got, what, 700 (722) runs in IPL. If judging players by only four or five Test matches is good enough, then I feel that we will never be able to build something.”

“So, hopefully, he (Padikkal) will get his chance. Whenever his time comes, we’ll give him a fair run as well. It’s not about giving someone five Test matches and someone else one Test match. If we give someone a fair run, we’ll give the other guy whenever he gets the opportunity comes a fair run as well. But, at the moment, I think we’ve got to give Sai a fair run. He’s a world-class player and I’m sure he’ll come good,” he added.

India have struggled to find a permanent occupant for the No. 3 spot since Pujara’s departure. Since then, several batters have been tried in the position, including Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal and Sudharsan.

Gill enjoyed the longest run at one-drop before moving to No. 4 after taking over the Test captaincy following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the longest format.

Sudharsan has featured in six Tests so far, and averages just over 27, but the team management remains confident about his long-term prospects.

Despite India’s current position of sixth in the World Test Championship standings with 48.15 per cent of the available points, Gambhir maintained that the side remains firmly in contention for a place in the final.

“We believe that we can win the WTC. There is talent and hunger in this team,” Gambhir said.

Gambhir also revealed that the Afghanistan Test would help the team management assess spin-bowling options ahead of the upcoming two-Test series in Sri Lanka. Left-arm spinners Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey are competing for a place in the squad.

“Manav and Harsh are to a certain extent similar but different also in terms of release points. This match gives us a chance to determine our fourth spinner as we will take four spinners in Sri Lanka,” he said.

–IANS

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