India\u2018s search for two reliable Test openers continues, followed the 2-0 series win over West Indies in the Caribbean recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prithvi Shaw\u2019s absence\u00a0on account of a doping violation saw KL Rahul retained in India\u2019s Test squad, but he averaged 25.25 in four innings with a best score of 44. Rahul\u2019s opening partner Mayank Agarwal fared poorly too, with an average of 20 from as many innings and one fifty (he made 55 in India\u2019s first innings at Sabina Park).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former\u00a0India\u00a0captain\u00a0Sourav Ganguly\u00a0believes that\u00a0Rohit Sharma can translate his strong white-ball form into Test cricket, if given the chance as opener in place of the struggling Rahul. Gautam Gambhir, India\u2019s third most successful Test opener, feels that Rohit will have to wait for his chances in Tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anil Kumble, India\u2019s greatest match-winner with the ball in Tests, is wary of pushing Rohit into the opener\u2019s role in red-ball cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the sidelines, the likes of domestic openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal are knocking on the selectors\u2019 doors for a chance in Tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So come India\u2019s next Test series, which starts October 2 against South Africa at home, who will the chosen openers be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rahul\u2019s problems in the West Indies were a continuation of his \nred-ball slump from 2018. Scores of 44, 38, 13 and 6 mean that of \nRahul\u2019s 60 innings in Test cricket, 21 have been between 10 and 49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKL Rahul has flattered to deceive and that creates an opening at the\n top,\u201d Ganguly said last week. \u201cI had suggested earlier about trying \nRohit Sharma as an opener in Test cricket and I still believe that he \nneeds to be given an opportunity because he is too good a player to be \nleft out in the cold. After a fantastic World Cup, I believe he will be \nitching to grab the opportunity to open in Tests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the first Test at Antigua, Agarwal\u2019s uncertain footwork saw him \ncaught behind to Kemar Roach and lbw to Roston Chase. In the second \nTest, he made 55 until an ambitious cut shot against Jason Holder saw \nhim caught at first slip. In the second innings, Agarwal was beaten for \npace by Roach and trapped lbw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rahul\u2019s and Agarwal\u2019s problems in the West Indies highlighted a trend\n of Test openers struggling when the conditions are tough and the \nnew-ball bowlers are accurate. And with Rahul, it appears that he has \nnot learned from the mistakes made last year in England and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In five Tests in England, Rahul was bowled five times. The other five\n dismissals were lbw thrice, caught in the cordon twice. Subtract that \n149 he made in the dead rubber at The Oval, and Rahul had scores of 4, \n13, 8, 0, 23, 26, 36, 19 and 37. In Australia, Rahul batted five times \nand scored 57 runs, of which 44 came in one innings. Around that knock \nwhich promised so much more, he made 2, 2, 0 and 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The failures of Rahul and Agarwal in the West Indies mirrored that of some openers during the ongoing Ashes series.\u00a0England\u2019s white-ball specialist Jason Roy made 10, 28, 0, 2, 9 and 8 in the first three Tests while opening. Handed a debut in Tests after a strong World Cup, the Surrey batsman has failed in his new role and was pushed down into the middle order for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, where he made 22 and 31 but had his technique exposed by pace once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roy, 28, has admitted that opening the innings in Tests has been extremely difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Australian camp, rookie opener Marcus Harris has scores of 8, 19, 13 and 6 in two Ashes Tests. He replaced Cameron Bancroft, who made 8, 7, 13 and 16 in two Tests in England. And David Warner, around one score of 61 in his comeback Test series, has failed to get to double figures in his seven other Ashes innings. Warner has three ducks in the series, including a pair at Old Trafford, and has fallen to England pace bowler Stuart Broad on six of eight occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking during the fourth Ashes Test, former England captain Mike Atherton analysed why ball is dominating bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe battle for an opening batsman in Test cricket is around about \nthe top of off stump and the best bowlers, like Josh Hazlewood, will \nland it there more often than the less-good ones. The best opening \nbatsman are the ones who make the best decisions about what to play, \nleave and attack in that very narrow area,\u201d he told Sky Sports<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another former England Test skipper, Nasser Hussain, pointed at the influence of white-ball cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I was brought up you were told to play with soft hands and let \nthe ball come to you. That is where the game has been infiltrated by \nwhite-ball cricket. High back-lifts, hard hands going at the ball, \npeople being castled a lot. Playing late and underneath your eyes seems \nto have gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting recently commented on how technology has allowed bowlers to work out where batsmen have weaknesses.\u00a0\u201cThere is a lot more analysis \u2013 where is this one little chink in this guy\u2019s armour that we can expose? You cannot survive if you have weaknesses, you need the courage and want to go and change things innings to innings or mid-series,\u201d said Ponting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to CricketCountry<\/em> last year, former Australia batsman\u00a0Dean Jones had identified a problem with techniques of top-order Test batsman. \u201cI think it has to do with the falling standard of Test cricket, and the agronomy of pitches around the world, which are dropping, but I dare say that batsmanship is not what it used to be,\u201d Jones had said. \u201cI think they don\u2019t to face the new ball or the reverse-swinging ball, so that\u2019s where its come to and it\u2019s a bit sad in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in conversation with CricketCountry<\/em>, former Indian batsman turned TV analyst Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Jones that batsmen today are happier slotting down to avoid facing the new ball. \u201cThe good ones want to bat down the order. [Joe] Root wants to bat four. Mushfiqur [Rahim] wants to bat four, six. Dump the gloves, bat at three, I say. The tendency is to be in the comfort zone and bat down the order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Added former India Test opener Aakash Chopra: \u201cI think it is starting with poor opening combos across the globe \u2026 the No 3 is getting exposed too quickly and therefore, teams are finding ways to shield their best batsman by pushing him at No 4. It is one of the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across three Test matches at venues such as Visakhapatnam, Pune and \nRanchi, India\u2019s openers will face the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Vernon \nPhilander, Lungi Ngidi and and Anrich Nortje. None of these venues is \nknown to assist pace, but South Africa have a very good pace attack and \nit remains to seen if similar pressure is put on India\u2019s top order as \nWest Indies\u2019 pacers did recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Shaw banned until November, Agarwal has done enough to retain \nhis place for three Tests against South Africa but will need to produce \nsome strong scores to hold on. On form, Rahul has a lot to do show he \ndeserves further chances opening in Tests. Rohit has white-ball success \nto his name, but opening in Tests against the red ball \u2013 even in docile \nIndian conditions \u2013 is a different ballgame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" India\u2018s search for two reliable Test openers continues, followed the 2-0 series win over West Indies in the Caribbean recently. Prithvi Shaw\u2019s absence\u00a0on account of a doping violation saw KL Rahul retained in India\u2019s Test squad, but he averaged 25.25 in four innings with a best score of 44. Rahul\u2019s opening partner Mayank Agarwal fared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,53,19,88],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cricket","tag-game","tag-sports","tag-test"],"yoast_head":"\n