Suryakumar Yadav has made it clear that Sanju Samson would have to compete with Jitesh Sharma for a spot in the middle order. The wicketkeeper’s slot is still up for grabs and whoever excels in the next couple of months will make it to the World Cup XV.

He emphasised that all batters, apart from the openers, need to be flexible.

“Sanju, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order,” Surya said at the match-eve news conference on Monday.

“Now the thing is, other than the openers, everyone has to be flexible. He did really well when he opened the innings but Shubman (Gill) had played before him in the Sri Lanka series, so he deserves to take that spot.

“But we gave Sanju opportunities. He was ready to bat at any number, which is actually good to see a player being flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. That’s one thing I have told all the batters that other than openers, everyone has to be very flexible.

“Both (Samson and Jitesh) are in the scheme of things. It’s always good to have lovely players like both of them. One can open, one can bat lower down the order. In fact, both can do all the roles. It’s an asset to the team and a good headache to have.”

He insisted India will not indulge in needless tinkering.

“We won’t be changing a lot of combinations. We won’t be trying too many things because things are going really well. So, we want to stick to the process...”

He evaded a query on Rinku Singh, who hasn’t been included in the squad
following Shivam Dube’s inclusion.

“Dube is an all-rounder. He and Hardik are the all-rounders. So, you can’t compare an all-rounder. The thing is all the batters from 3 to 7 are capable of batting at any position.

“The plan for the series is to play good cricket... There are some things that we are doing right. So, why should we change that?”