INDIA'S TEST OPENERS SOLIDITY

   

           " INDIAN TEAM HAS NUMEROUS OPTIONS TO GO FOR WHEN IT COMES 
                   TO OPENING IN TEST MATCHES"

      STARTING WITH:
                                           
 

                                                      
                                                

  1) ROHIT SHARMA
                                   

  

 Rohit Sharma a 32 year old opening batsman had already made his name as one of the best indian openers in the limited overs cricket he started his test career too like a middle order batsman more specifically as a lower order batsman but for the first time against South Africa he got the chance to open in the longest format of the game and he played an innings of 212 runs in that series. He had already scored 3 double centuries in ODI cricket and 4 centuries in t20 cricket, but he came to the test side as a number 4 batsman who can bowl but due to the fact that MS Dhoni brought him up as an opener in ODI and t20 cricket he made a point that he could be considered for the longest format of the game before that he was not very successful as batsman and even was not considered for the 2011 world cup squad due to his inconsistency and knack of gifting away his wicket. For now he is in the list of first choice opener.

 

                                                        
      
                 

                                              

2) MURALI VIJAY

 

Murali Vijay a 37-year-old right handed opening batsman who made headlines when he was involved in 462 runs opening partnership with Abhinav Mukund in Ranji Trophy and made his debut in 2008 Border Gavaskar Trophy, but he made his maiden test hundred against Australia in 2010 after that he was not able to score even a 50 in next 9 innings and got axed from the side. He wasn’t able to do much in the shorter formats of the game but made a comeback in the test side after a brilliant domestic season in 2012-2013 and made a 167 against Australia and made subsequent 150 plus scores and became a highest run getter with 430 runs, he went on to score 97 in Durban, 95 in Lords, 99 in Adelaide, 144 in Gaba, 150 against Bangladesh, fifties against South Africa and 2 centuries against England in a home series, despite having such a run in Test cricket it is very grim that he will be able to make a comeback in this or any other format of the game. He has scored 3982 runs in test cricket.

3) SHIKHAR DHAWAN

Shikhar Dhawan a 35-year-old left handed opener batsman who had been prolific in limited overs cricket and had been part of some exceptional victories in all the formats of the game. He made his test debut in 2013 against Australia when Virendra Sehwag was dropped from the team, he played a dream debut innings when he scored a 187 against Australia in just 85 balls. But after that he almost struggled in this format of the game bit continued to be India’s go to man limited overs cricket, that’s why his selection as an opener in test cricket is difficult. He has scored 2315 runs in test cricket, 6105 runs in ODI cricket, 1715 runs in t20 cricket and 5783 runs in IPL.

           

 

 4) KL RAHUL

 

KL Rahul a 29-year Wicketkeeper opening batsman made his test debut on Boxing Day 2014 at MCG against Australia. He continued his good run in home series when he made his career best 199 against England at Chennai, in 2018 he started poorly as he got exposed to the moving surfaces of South Africa, England and Australia, he struggled so much that he was not able to score against a mediocre team of West Indies at home and was eventually dropped from the side. After a series of good performances in limited overs of cricket and of course domestic cricket he was finally selected in the test side but was not able to make it to playing eleven. He finally got a chance when India toured England and a century at lords almost cemented his place as a first choice opener. He has scored 2321 runs in tests, 1509 runs in ODI, 1831 runs in t20s and 3273 runs in IPL.

                                           
                          
                                               
            

    5) MAYANK AGARWAL

Mayank Agarwal a 30-year-old opening batsman he came into lime light after a stunning performance in Under 19 World Cup, he got his first IPL contract in 2011. He also got selected as a replacement of Vijay Shankar in 2019 World Cup but didn’t got the chance in playing eleven. He made his test debut in 2018 against Australia at MCG where he played few handy knocks, he didn’t got chance in home series and after a quite stint against West Indies, he played exceptionally well against South Africa which was a home series in which he scored 340 runs which include a century and a double ton in just 3 games. He was replaced by Rohit Sharma due to poor run in India's tour of Australia in 2020-2021 midway, still he may play a vital role in the future as he was not dropped from the squad. He played a vital knock of 69 runs in the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy to help his domestic team Karnataka to win the trophy fourth time. He has scored 1052 runs in tests and 2135 runs in IPL.

   

                                                                  

      6) PRITHVI SHAW

    

Prithvi Shaw a 22-year-old Right handed opener who came into the lime light after the 14-year-old made a terrific 546 for Mumbai’s Harris Shield. He scored centuries in both Ranji trophy and Duleep Trophy (2016-17). He was also named as the captain of Indian Under- 19 team in 2018 who went on to win the Under 19 World Cup under the coaching of legendary Rahul Dravid. After his consistency in first class cricket he got his maiden call in tests against England but was not able to make it to playing eleven, he finally made his debut in 2018 against West Indies at Rajkot where he made a swift 99 ball century but was dropped midway due to continuous failures against New Zealand and Australia he was replaced by Shubman Gill. He scored 339 runs in tests and 1305 runs in IPL.

 

   
                            
                          

                               

      7) SHUBMAN GILL 

Shubman Gill is the prodigy in Indian Cricket and came to fame because of his brilliant performance in 2018 Under -19 World Cup as deputy of Prithvi Shaw. He won the BCCI award for Best Junior Cricketer from 2013-2015. He played a sensation innings of 268 runs in third unofficial test against West Indies A, his constant performances in list A cricket and Vijay Hazare Trophy earned him a spot in the test squad against South Africa, Bangladesh and New Zealand but he was not able to make it to the Playing Eleven. He finally made his test debut in Australia at MCG on Boxing day, he also scored his career best 91 in that series. He has scored 414 runs in tests and 1417 runs in IPL

(image source: Google)






 

THE CURIOUS CASE OF ROHIT AND RAHUL

 

 

"Both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been part of Indian limited over side for quite A long period of time with Rahul getting selected in the longest format of the game but didn't getting a chance in the playing eleven shows the team's inclination towards giving the chances to youngsters and the foremost reasons for that was his failures in the past and Rohit didn't opened in this format for a very long period of time but played down the order quite a few time"

 

'Here I will be telling you how their career are upholding' 

 

 

 

 

Well both of them are exceptional cricketers but the dynamics they both share and the role that they played have varied throughout their career.

 

So if we talk about KL Rahul his test career have not gone that smoothly as compared to the limited overs cricket may be because of some continuous failures or may be number of options that are available with the selectors in the longest format of the game, still he had scored 2321 runs in 40 games and his highest test score of 199  came against England.

 

 

Recently he made a sensational comeback century on lords cricket ground that have guaranteed that he will become one of the India's first choice opener in the longest format of the game because he have done it in the most difficult conditions of England.

 

In ODI cricket his position of batting was always under scrutiny that where he could bat to bring out the best from him, according to him he always preferred to open.

 

In 2019 world cup he was selected as a middle order batsman especially as number 4 batsman but Shikhar Dhawan's injury in the middle forced the team to bring him up the order but afterwards he was also tried at number 3 and when Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer was not in the team he was finally settled at number 5 where he scored his highest ODI score of 112.

 

In t20 cricket he certainly become a different player as if he belongs to that format completely and it become really hard for the bowlers when he gets going he has been india's 3d player for quite a long period of time and scored 1751 runs in 53 matches in which his highest score of 110  came against England.

 

 

Apart from Kl Rahul Rohit Sharma is also considered to be king of the limited overs cricket but his career got drastically changed in 2013 when he was brought up by india's former captain MS Dhoni and became one of the best opener of limited overs cricket. He is considered to be the best puller of the ball.

 

In t20 cricket he was part of as many as 116  matches and scored 4 centuries but what's more was he didn't started his career as an opener but he batted down the order but he didn't got much success at that position. Till now he has scored 3038 runs  with a highest score of 118 in this format.   

                                   

In ODI Cricket his career have gone smoothly as compared to the longest and shortest format of the game, he has played such a vital role in the victories of indian cricket but what's more special about this format for him is that he has 3 double centuries in this format of the game and as many as 29 centuries. he has scored 9205 in 227 games which include the highest score of 264 which has not been made by anyone else till now.

 

 

Test cricket which is considered to be the toughest format of the game and even in this format he did'nt started his career as an opener but batted down the order but for the first time he was brought up the order where he really loves to bat in the limited overs cricket  when South Africa toured india it was like he was litterally starting his career as a test opener and what's next was he scored his first double century in test cricket in which he scored 212 runs and scored as many as 8 centuries in making 3047 runs in just 43 matches.

 

 

 

 

 The fact that no other team has same openers for the shortest and the longest format of the game made this duo much more special.

 

 

 

 

(image source: Google)