Indian cricket team vice-captain confirmed the team's new number four ahead of the five-match Test series against England, which will start on Friday (June 20) with the series opener at the Headingley Cricket Stadium in Leeds. The tour will mark an important moment for the Indian team in the longest format in the wake of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's retirement.

While there are no doubts over India's opening pair in Rohit's absence, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul cementing their spot on the tour of Australia, the number four spot was a big question, with no clear-cut option waiting in the wings or an established option in the middle order. While Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan were picked in the squad, neither will take up the number four spot, which has been occupied by Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli for the last 33 years.

Pant addressed a pre-match press conference on Wednesday (June 18) and confirmed that skipper Shubman Gill will move down the batting order and play at number four. The 27-year-old further revealed that there will be no change in his own batting positions as he will continue to occupy the number five spot, where he has batted since his comeback in September last year.

However, Pant claimed that no decision has been taken on who will replace Gill at number three, with discussions still underway.

"There are still discussions going on about who will bat at number three. Shubman will bat at number four. I will continue to bat at number five as of now," said Pant while addressing the media.

While Gill was widely rumoured to move to number four was confirmed by Pant, the dilemma around India's playing XI remains.The number three spot is likely to be occupied by either Karun Nair or Sai Sudharsan. This will mean that either Nair plays a Test match for India after eight years or Sudharsan makes his debut.

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