Ravi Shastri wants in-form batsman Shubman Gill to be in the XI ahead of vice-captain KL Rahul in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beginning in Nagpur on Thursday.

The former India head coach also said that vice-captaincy should not guarantee one a place in the XI if someone like Gill is hitting the sweet spot with regularity in white-ball cricket.

Picking his XI for the opening game of the four-Test series, Shastri also said no one comes close to Suryakumar Yadav at No.5 and that the middle-order batter should get his preferred position in the series.

“Whether it’s Shubman or Rahul, it depends on the team management, what they think. Obviously, you’d want to go with what you’ve been doing in the past, but form becomes critical.

“Someone’s hitting it really sweet and it’s coming out of the centre of the bat. I’ve been watching Gill and Rahul very closely at nets. When I see footwork, I also see timing which helps in determining who’s batting better.

“If it has to be Shubman ahead of Rahul, so be it. I won’t say that since Rahul is the vice-captain, he becomes the automatic choice,” Shastri said on the ICC Review on Wednesday.

A lot of heat has been generated in the Australian media about India preparing “doctored pitches”, but Shastri said he wanted the ball to turn square in order to capitalise on the home advantage.

“If someone asks me what kind of pitch, I would say, ‘Expect that (square turner)’. If you lose the toss, expect the ball to turn in the first session of play itself.

“My mindset would be,‘How can I beat Australia 4-0 if I’m the coach?’ It means from Day I, I want the ball to pitch on leg-stump and hit off-stump. I want it to rip.”