Like the body of an insect (as we learnt in biology class in school), the batting organism is divided into three parts: opening, middle order and tail (insects have head, thorax and abdomen). Each has a specific role and requires different skill sets.
The openers (one right-handed, one left in an ideal eleven) are like the spies sent out to survey the land, their responses conveying to those in the pavilion the nature of the pitch, the quality of the bowling, and the type of shots that would be profitable.
In the evocative words of Mike Marqusee, openers play the same percentages/to different rhythms, following/our own sequence/ of stressed and unstressed beats,/ each of us fashioning/our own departure from the norm.
The job description has such elements as oodles of patience, the ability to read swing, and the courage to take on the new ball at its best with the bowlers fresh. Great openers like Sunil Gavaskar were capable of putting away the bad ball even in the midst of a defensive innings.
‘Team’s engine room’
The middle order, from Nos. 4 to 7 is the team’s engine room, with batsmen (at least one of whom is a left-hander) capable of playing dual roles, defence or attack, against varied bowling, and tasked with the job of ensuring good starts are built upon or poor starts compensated for.
These slots are for the all-round batters. Currently the best in the world bat at No. 4 — Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Steven Smith. Nos. 6 and 7 have to be prepared for the second new ball too, so that is a specialisation within a specialization.
So what about No. 3, in some ways the most crucial batting position, the link between the top and middle, and frequently the home of the best batter in the side? Don Bradman batted at 3, as did Wally Hammond, Brian Lara, Viv Richards and Jacques Kallis. But the most successful at that slot (in terms of aggregates) have been Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting.
Adaptability
Adaptability is the No. 3 batter’s key. He might have to face the second ball of the innings or wait for a day and a half before getting to bat. The wait can be nerve-wracking and each player has his own way of dealing with it. He has to be prepared at all times — as soon as the toss is won, or as the opponents’ innings ends. He sets the pace — taking the attack to the bowlers, or absorbing the pressure to make it easier for the middle order. It is no coincidence that some of the most successful No. 3 batters have led their countries — taking responsibility and setting the tone is a large part of the job.
Many months ago, this column made a case for grooming Shubman Gill to be India’s No. 3 to follow two stalwarts — Dravid and Cheteswar Pujara. A more imaginative selection committee might have named him vice captain for the tour of the West Indies next month where India play two Tests. He is clearly the man for the future, and might as well be ready when it arrives. Gill has the strokes, the defence and the temperament to switch from one to the other as the situation demands.
India would then open with Rohit Sharma and the talented left hander Yeshaswi Jaiswal, each of whom can be given the freedom to play his natural game (India should give some thought to the Bazball style), with Gill, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to follow.
India could, of course, play it safe by sticking to the tried and tested order to ease the pressure on the likely newcomers. But sometimes an excess of caution can be as dangerous as risk-taking. The middle path here goes through imagination and creativity, two elements that ought not to be the enemies of sensible team selection.
There is an apparent positional fluidity in modern Test cricket which may be the result of white ball cricket. In a version of total football, former coach Greg Chappell tried to bring this flexibility into the Indian team by training batsmen to play in any position in white ball cricket. But his best batter Sachin Tendulkar was unhappy, and that was that.
Batters like to stick to the position where they are most comfortable and productive, conscious of what is expected from each slot.
