Gill, the new No 4 for India

CHENNAI: The No. 4 position in Test cricket is the format’s holy grail. Sure, there were a few great pre-War No. 4s (Denis Compton and Wally Hammond) but the idea of a No. 4 being one of the side’s best bats was a more modern phenomenon with its roots around the late 1980s.

Sachin Tendulkar is of course the gold standard. He scored 13,492 runs in that position, almost 4000 clear of Mahela Jayawardene another giant who had made the No. 4 his postcode for 15 years.

Out of the top 13 run-scorers in the format’s history, seven have had an extended run in that position.

From an Indian perspective, the No. 4 has played a big role in multiple ways. Batsmanship, leadership, charismatic figures, the biggest egos in the room as well as tasked with the role of selling all kinds of consumer goods to the hoi polloi. Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar… India’s batting royalty have all featured in this position.

In fact, in India’s maiden Test back in 1932, the captain was somebody who came out to bat at No. 4. CK Nayudu, an Indian cricketing aristocrat who wore several hats.

This crash course in the history of the No. 4 is a roundabout way of saying why Shubman Gill is the next cab of the No. 4 rank. “I think there’s still a discussion going on for No. 3,” vice-captain Rishabh Pant said in a press conference two days before the beginning of the five-match Test series against England on Friday. “But No. 4 and No. 5 are fixed. Shubman is going to bat at No. 4, and I’m going to stay at No. 5 as of now.”

There is one big difference, though, between Shubman and almost everybody who made the No. 4 their own. Most of the others weren’t in leadership roles when they assumed the No. 4. They were all fairly early into their careers. They didn’t have the pressure of expectation on their shoulders when they were asked to walk out at No. 4.