Opening conundrum has hit India again

The opening conundrum seems to have hit Indian cricket again. With the first Test match of the series against New Zealand to begin on the 21st of this month, the Indian think tank is burdened with the job of picking the best squad which will walk out at the picturesque ground at Wellington.

The tour game before the Test that was played at Hamilton gave an opportunity to the designated openers, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal to get their eyes in, which they did in the second innings, having failed in the first. The India A tour that preceded the Test series gave an opportunity to the other contender for the post — Shubman Gill — who scored a fruitful innings of 136 at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln.

The drawn Tour game also saw an innings of 101 runs by Hanuma Vihari who, if media reports have to be believed, has thrown his hat in the ring for the openers slot. In the Test format, India has always had the issue of two solid opening batsmen who were regulars. The days of yore, the decades of 70s and 80s, had Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar opening with many partners and settling down with the indefatigable Chetan Chauhan and the mercurial Krish Srikkanth once the former had called it a day.

The decade of the 90s had India struggling to get a pair of established opening batsmen till the Delhi duo of Virendra Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir sealed their positions at the top of the batting order. The last, regular Indian opener was Shikhar Dhawan who is not the flavour of the season with the Indian team management in the longer format of the game and continues to ply his trade at the top of the heap in shorter, white ball formats of cricket.

With Agarwal getting back among the runs with 81 runs (retired) in the drawn tour match at Hamilton, his place, starting in the first Test match seems to have been sealed. The question that skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri are faced with will be to decide who will take the second spot. India is fortunate that their top order batsmen are in good nick as was seen in the India A matches and the four-day tour game.

With Cheteshwar Pujara, who will come in at number three and Ajinkya Rahane who should take the fifth position, in good form, the teams issue of who will come in at number six continues. Vihari who had looked solid at that position, has been warming the benches giving up his spot in the interest of the balance required for the team.

Ravindra Jadeja, who is slowly being recognised as an all-rounder has proven himself with good innings played and looks to be a frontrunner if the team decides to go into the game with a full attack of five bowlers. The three pacer, two spinners attack featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohamed Shami and Ishant Sharma (who has been flown to New Zealand having cleared his fitness test) is the best option for India to put the pressure on the hosts.

Going in with the best opening combination is extremely crucial for the team if they have to gain advantage over the Kiwis in the first of the two-Test series. Vihari’s intent on being available to open the innings sends one back to the time the stylist VVS Laxman was asked to open the batting to fill in an empty spot. Laxman’s pet position, batting at number three was taken by the solid Rahul Dravid and to find a place in the middle order heavy team, the Hyderabadi had to open to stay in the mix.

Having averaged 28.54 as an opener, and 48.44 while batting lower down, Laxman decided to give up opening the batting. His comeback into the Indian team, against Steve Waugh’s champion team, scoring 281 runs (what many believe is the best Test innings played by an Indian) at Eden Gardens in 2001 went to prove that his decision not to open and fight his way into the lower order was correct.

In all probability, Vihari will have to sit out of the first Test in the best interest of the team and it does look like the team management will pick young Shaw instead of Gill to open with Agarwal. This will probably be based on the premise that Shaw has the experience of playing Test cricket and asking Gill to make his debut in a needle game would not be prudent. Vihari should remember that history does repeat itself and should take the example of Laxman if he has to come back into the team in the position he prefers.