The new number four for India in Tests would neither hear the cracking applause when he strides out nor the numbing silence when he retreats to the dressing room. Or to the scale associated with two immediate predecessors, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kolhi. Instead, he could feel the squeezing weight of history and heritage, the burden of 25,151 runs, 51 hundreds, 36 years, the halo and honour, records and responsibility of the inheritance. The natural heir is Shubman Gill, the most promising of the youth brigade, a prospective captain and touted as a future great. He fits the profile—a splendid stroke-maker, stoked in the classical ethos yet with a post-modern outlook, with a game that he could bend to suit diverse conditions, a blossoming superstar, a composed presence, a smiling, handsome face that has begun adorning advertisement hoardings, and non-controversial off the field. However, him occupying the most sacred post in India’s batting line-up comes at the inevitable expense of a rejig and the consequent headaches. Story continues below this ad Gill has just grooved …