India must play both Rahul, Gill for 4th Test vs Australia, says Ricky Ponting

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has suggested Team India include both Shubman Gill and KL Rahul for the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rahul, who opened India's innings in the first two games, failed to give the team the starts and as a result, he was dropped for the Indore game, which Steve Smith-led Australia won by nine wickets. Gill replaced Rahul in the playing XI but he also had failed to convert his start in the third Test.

Ahead of the fourth and final game in Ahmedabad, Ponting has urged India to pick Gill as Rohit Sharma's opening partner and push Rahul down the order.

"With someone like KL Rahul having gone out of this side and Shubman Gill having come in, both these guys have played a bit of Test match cricket and you could potentially have both of those guys in the same team," Ponting said on ICC review.

After losing the first two games in the four-match series, Australia bounced back in the third game. The victory in Indore saw Australia seal a place in the final of 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) final, while India are eyeing the other spot ahead of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

"Maybe Shubman could start at the top and KL could potentially move down into the middle order, because he's played cricket in those (English) conditions before, albeit at the top of the order. But one thing we know about the UK is that the ball swings for long periods of time during the day. And if the overhead conditions are suitable, then the ball tends to swing right the way through an innings," added Ponting.

Australia, who have not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the previous three occasions, will be looking to secure a 2-2 draw by winning the fourth Test.

The fourth Test is scheduled to begin on March 9 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Ponting further went on to add that both India and Australia should pick their best playing XIs, keeping the conditions during the WTC final, which will be played in June in England.

"Because it's just a one-off Test match, it will be really important to pick the team that you think is going to have the most success in those conditions. The Oval can be a really, really good place to bat as long as the sun is out, it's probably as good a wicket as any in the UK.

"So I think that's what it would come down to for India. It would just come down to assessing the conditions and then maybe forgetting about this last series that's just been played. The conditions that we're seeing here (in India) are quite extreme. If it was Australia and India, they would both look at the conditions and pick the team that they think was best to win that one-off game," added Ponting.