"I see Shubman settling down as No. 4" - Aakash Chopra picks Yashasvi Jaiswal's potential future opening partner in Tests

Former player Aakash Chopra has picked Sai Sudharsan as Yashasvi Jaiswal's potential future opening partner in Tests. He opined that Shubman Gill is unlikely to move back to the top of the order and will likely replace Virat Kohli at No. 4 once the latter calls it quits from the game's longest format.

India suffered a 1-3 loss to Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. While KL Rahul opened with Jaiswal in four of the five Tests, Rohit Sharma partnered the southpaw at the top of the order in the Boxing Day Test.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the cricketer-turned-commentator picked a few potential Test batters for India. He chose Sudharsan for the opening position, elaborating (3:35):

"One player who comes to my mind and for whom all of us should be ready, he is the future of Indian batting, he is Sai Sudharsan. Yashasvi Jaiswal is there. Shubman Gill, who will eventually go to No. 4, is there, and after that, Rishabh Pant is there. So these are your three pillars. KL Rahul is there with you for some time."

"Of course, he is the most senior among all of them and is playing as an opener. So you can keep him along with you. However, eventually when KL Rahul goes, an opener's place will become vacant. I see Shubman settling down as No. 4. I see his career progressing at No. 4 as soon as Virat Kohli says goodbye. So I am thinking about Sai Sudharsan," Chopra added.

Aakash Chopra noted that Sai Sudharsan has done well in limited opportunities for India. While acknowledging that IPL performances shouldn't be considered, he added that the Gujarat Titans (GT) batter is technically very compact.

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"I genuinely feel he has a great future ahead of him" - Aakash Chopra on Sai Sudharsan

Sai Sudharsan has scored 127 runs at an average of 63.50 in three ODIs. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra predicted a bright future for Sai Sudharsan.

"Considering his playing style and temperament, I genuinely feel he has a great future ahead of him because whenever you have given him a chance on the big stage, it looks like he belongs to this space. Even when it was the IPL final, he played easily," he said.

The former India opener added that the Tamil Nadu batter needs to be invested in.

"When you took him to South Africa, there also he played easily. Of course, he has played more white-ball cricket thus far, but we have witnessed Sai Sudharsan's talent, and he is very young. He is only 23 years old. So I will definitely play a punt on the 23-year-old Sai Sudharsan because he is one for the long haul according to me," Chopra observed.

Sai Sudharsan has scored 1948 runs at an average of 41.44 in 28 first-class games. He aggregated 127 runs at an average of 31.75 in four innings in the two unofficial Tests between India A and Australia before BGT 2024-25.