The Indian team management could consider playing Shubman Gill in the middle order ahead of Suryakumar Yadav in the first Test against Australia after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the series opener due to a back injury.

Iyer failing to recover from back spasms will certainly open one spot in the Indian batting order and the choice will be between Surya, a career middle order batter who has the X-factor and Gill, who has mostly opened for the national team in Tests.