On Day 1 of the first test between India and Australia in the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy, R Ashwin walked out to bat at No.3. Usually, teams send out a night-watchman to see through the batting innings until the end of the day or the finish of session. Interestingly, a few others have operated in this slot in this position. Here, we take a look at three players you might not know have batted at No.3 for India in Tests in recent times.
1) Ishant Sharma
In the initial part of his Test career, Ishant actually had decent batting skills. He had the ability to stick around and his defensive technique was pretty decent.
Hence, on two occasions, Ishant was trusted to walk in at No.3. However, combining both these chances, he could make only a total of 11 runs.
2) Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is one of the players you might not know who has batted at No.3 for India in Tests in recent times. When he started out, Bumrah was rated very poorly as a batter. That said, at the moment, he seems to have improved his skills.
In 2020, India’s premier speedster was given a chance at No.3. However, he scored only 2 runs. Going forward, Bumrah can expect some more opportunities to come his way.
3) Shardul Thakur
It is mainly due to his batting performances that Shardul mostly earned his chances in Tests. To his credit, he has actually had some fine contributions such as in the BGT series in Gabba. However, his performances have been dropping lately.
In 2021, in one game, he had to walk in at No.3. However, he scored just 10 runs before he was dismissed. If Shardul has to return to the Test squad, he has to be more consistent, both with the bat and the ball. He might also want to add some pace to his bowling to attract the selectors.
