Do batsmen have a choice as to where they want to bat?

At a recent event in Mumbai, Rahul Dravid was asked where he thought Ajinkya Rahane should bat at, No. 3 or 5, in Tests. The former India captain and current India 'A' and Under-19 coach asked Rahane, seated to his left, “where do you want to play?”, and in the same vein continued, tongue-in-cheek, “I know you will say 'wherever the team wants'.”

On Thursday at the Indian squad's preparatory camp in Bengaluru, limited-overs batsman Ambati Rayudu told bcci.tv that he was happy to adapt to “different numbers and situations”.

He said: “I am happy playing the role that they give me. My strength has been to adapt to different numbers and situations. I am confident that I can adapt to any situation. If you are planning to play in different situations, you also need to get your game moulded according to 50- and 20-over games. Skills are really important. Not only me, everyone is working on it.”

The batting positions in the Indian Test team, save for a handful, have been anything but fixed. That is what the current set up under captain Virat Kohli and Team Director Ravi Shastri want – batsmen to be flexible and play at any position that the situation demanded of them. This flexibility in the Indian team has worked for the Indian team. Shastri even famously said during the Test series in Sri Lanka, “In this team, no one owns a batting position”.
Often cricketers, who have been moved up and down the batting order, have been asked their preferred positions and standard comes the answer, “wherever the team wants me to bat”.

Of course, batsmen would have their preferred positions. Some make it known their reluctance about having to bat at a particular position they were not comfortable with and have not done their entire life before. VVS Laxman once said at a press conference during an Indian camp in Bengaluru more than a decade ago that his days as a Test opener were well and truly over. Virender Sehwag, by then an established opener, admitted that he preferred to bat in the middle order.

Some of the overseas batsmen are quite frank about where they wanted to bat. Of course, they were also open to the idea of being flexible according to the team's needs. In the course of the last few days, after the Australian Test team under the new full-time skipper Steve Smith was announced, the Aussie batsmen were asked their preferred positions. Smith himself said that he will bat no lower than four.

Joe Burns, who made his debut against India in the Boxing Day Test last December and scored two half-centuries at No. 6 in the following Sydney Test, said: “In red ball cricket, I have been opening quite a bit. I also have a lot of experience in middle order. This (Australian) winter, I spent plenty of time for Middlesex batting at No. 4. I feel fairly comfortable either way. Will wait and see what the captain says.”

Burns, the 26-year-old right-hander from Queensland who is expected to open in Tests in Bangladesh, opened in the recent ODIs against England and met with limited success. “I like to open (in one-dayers). Opening the batting is a good challenge. My consistency in opening the batting has improved in the last few years. I felt comfortable and will take on the challenge for sure,” Burns told Cricket Australia website recently.

Glenn Maxwell, limited-overs specialist who wants to make a mark in the longer format also, preferred to bat at No. 5 or 6. “I like to be 5 or 6 and really play that middle order role, and be that extra spinner that Australia needs, give Gazza (Nathan Lyon) that extra option and help at the other end that will be nice. I love to bat in the middle order and hopefully score some big runs for us,” said the 26-year-old Maxwell.

In his three Test appearances so far, the Victorian all-rounder has batted at No. 8 in his debut, pushed to open in his second Test before being sent in at Nos 3 and 4 in his third Test.

Exciting Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh said he was ready to do the job at No. 6 in Tests. Asked if he was confident of staying in the top 6 for Australia, Marsh said: “Yes, certainly I think I am. Over the last 18 months, whenever I have got the chance, I feel I have made the runs and it is just putting that on board in Test cricket now. I am confident of now doing it at that No. 6 spot.”

The 23-year-old Marsh, son of former Australian opener Geoff and brother of Shaun, has batted in nine of his 13 Test innings at No. 6 while his lone half-century in white flannels came at No. 7.

Surrey County's young all-rounder Zafar Ansari, who was named in the England Test squad to take on Pakistan in UAE next month and who suffered a broken thumb the same day the announcement was made, said he was suited to open for England.

Speaking on Lord's Podcast recently, the 23-year-old left-handed batsman said: “I scored my first hundred last year batting at No. 6 and another century recently at 6. My recent memory of batting at 6 is productive and an enjoyable place to bat, something I am used to feel in one-day cricket. At 6, you have to play the situation and play a lot of spin bowling and possibly second new ball. Five or 6 probably suits me play well given how much I have bowled this year and how much bowling is to become a part of my game. I am well suited to open, actually suited technically to open. I don't like to wait going in to bat. If you ask me, I would like to open,” he said.

Ansari has since been replaced by Samit Patel in the Test squad.