National coach Justin Langer, former captain Ricky Ponting and debutant Marcus Harris have weighed into an increasingly-divisive debate regarding Aaron Finch's place at the top of Australia's batting order.
Finch's inglorious third-ball duck at Adelaide Oval was a horrible start to Australia's first innings of the first Test against India.
The dramatic dismissal, in which two stumps were uprooted by a delivery from Ishant Sharma that warranted more respect than a loose cover drive, has sparked fresh discussion about whether Finch should be entrusted to open in the whites.
It's a topic that has been spoken about at length in recent weeks.
State teammates Marcus Harris and Finch have opened in the Big Bash League together but never in Sheffield Shield, with Victoria coach Andrew McDonald feeling the latter is best suited to the middle order in red-ball cricket.
Langer continues to take a different view, insisting Finch can open for Australia in all three formats.
"No one would ever have said (Virender) Sehwag was an opener either and he averaged probably 50 in Test cricket being an aggressive-style opening batsman," Langer said on SEN.
"It's his third Test match ... he'll learn from that.
"He's a very talented player, we know he's working so hard ... now it's up to him to take the opportunity."
Shifting Finch down the order would mean promoting under-pressure Shaun Marsh or the side's most-important batsman Usman Khawaja.
Ponting suggested Finch has "a lot of work to do", arguing it was a short-sighted error to open with the hard-hitting batsman during the recent Test series in the UAE.
"It's the easiest place in the world to be an opening batsman," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"He did reasonably well over there which meant ... they had to pick him to open (in Adelaide).
"What was the long-term objective to open the batting with him over there?
"Everyone knows he struggles a little bit against moving red ball and we have a series here and an Ashes series not too far away, and the ball's going to move around a lot when we're over in England."
Former Test openers Simon Katich and Ed Cowan are among those who agree with McDonald but Harris hopes Finch is given an extended run as a Test opener.
"It's good for the team if there's continuity at the top," Harris said.
"He's earned his spot to bat at the top of the order. He'll be fine."
