NEW DELHI: India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Friday confirmed that left-handed batter Sai Sudharsan will bat at number three in the one-off Test against Afghanistan, which begins on Saturday in New Chandigarh.“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. “We can (only) pick 11 (players) and Sai isn’t in bad form. He scored 700 runs in IPL. If we judge Sai on basis of 4-5 games we will never be able to build something,” he added.The number three position has remained unsettled for India in Test cricket since Cheteshwar Pujara moved out of the side. Since then, seven different batters have been tried at one-drop, but none have managed to make the spot their own. Several of them were also not given an extended run in the role. Pujara announced his retirement in 2025, though his last Test appearance for India came in the 2023 World Test Championship final.Shubman Gill had the longest stint at number three before moving to number four after becoming Test captain following Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format.Since Gill’s move, Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal have all batted at number three.India’s 2-0 home series defeat to South Africa highlighted the uncertainty around the position. Sundar was promoted to number three in the first Test at Eden Gardens but was moved back down the order after India’s batting struggles.Sudharsan returned at number three in the second Test in Guwahati against South Africa but managed scores of 15 and 14.The left-hander has played six Tests so far and averages a little over 27.Despite India being sixth in the World Test Championship standings with 48.15 per cent of points, Gambhir said the team still believes it can challenge for the title.“We believe that we can win the WTC. There is talent and hunger in this team,” Gambhir said. On quick turnaround after IPL, Gambhir said, “There are no excuses. Test matches are about mental toughness.”
