After replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain of the Indian test team, Shubman Gill could be set to take up Virat Kohli's number position in the team during the upcoming five-match Test series between India and England, which is set to start on Friday (June 20) at the Headingley Cricket Stadium in Leeds.

This will mark India's first assignment in Test cricket since Rohit and Virat announced their retirement from the longest format of the game, leaving the batting short on experience. While KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal are set to open the batting with Rohit not around but it is Kohli's number four spot that has become a source of debate.

In recent days, there has been widespread speculation that Gill will bat at number four. The 25-year-old has been batting at number three for the last two years after starting his career as an opener. However, the Indian captain refused to confirm his batting position while saying that he will take a call after the ongoing warm-up match between India A and India. However, the star batter claimed he would test the water by hitting at a change of batting position.

“Not really. I think we are playing a practice game, a warm-up game, so I’m going to maybe test the waters in that one and see which batting position suits for who," said Gill in an interaction with Dinesh Karthik on SKY SPORTS.

If Gill does decide to take the number four spot, either Sai Sudharsan or Karun Nair is set to bat at number three. While Sai is looking to make his debut in the longest format for India while Karun will be playing his first test for India since March 2017.

The number spot holds a special significance in Indian cricket as it has been almost exclusively occupied by Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli for the last 33 years.

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