Team India's hiccups in England begin from the very top of the order itself; the openers. The men who are given the task of providing the team with a solid start upfront, setting a firm foundation for the batsmen to come in subsequently, have surprisingly failed abominably thus far.
When looked on paper, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan were the three openers who were expected to flourish this time around. Nevertheless, cricket is not played on paper, but on cricket pitches. Green ones in England, where the ball moves a considerable amount. And, when it is played on these pitches, the Indian openers have appeared rather edgy and anxious.
Having scored just 83 runs in 2 matches at an average of 10.375, the likes of Vijay, Rahul, and Dhawan have been deplorable. Although, opening the innings is not an unchallenging assignment. The bowlers are fresh with the new-ball in hand, receiving some additional aid from the pitch. There is very little time for them to settle down, comprehend how the pitch is acting, and savvy the intentions of the bowler. There is a very little margin of error for openers in red-ball cricket.
Murali Vijay does have the potential and flair to survive in these English conditions. Indeed, he was the highest run-scorer for his team when India had toured England in 2014. He is aware of where is his off-stump, knows how to leave the ball and defend the good ones right under his eyes, close to his body. Beyond any doubt, Vijay for sure shall be given one more game to prove himself.
Although, being 34, Vijay's career is at its twilight. In another two to three years, retirement will be around, and India will yet again be in search of an opener. Hence, it is necessary to start hunting a young prodigy, whom Team India can look upon as a long-term prospect.
KL Rahul was given a go by the team management, but, regrettably, he couldn't perform up to our presupposition. The right-hander from Mangalore has managed to score merely 48 runs in 6 innings (in South Africa & England) at an atrocious average of nobbut 8. He still remains to be vulnerable to the outswinger pitched on good length just outside the off-stump.
Howbeit, Rahul is just 26 and has a lot of cricket up in front of him. If he makes a few technical adjustments to his game and dedicates himself like Virat Kohli did after 2014, he indubitably can thrive into a renowned all-time great Indian batsman.
On the other hand, in my opinion, the team management has been unfair with Shikhar Dhawan. He is the only one who gets shown the door when everybody else also fails. It happened in South Africa, and now, it happened in England. If this is the case, I doubt whether Dhawan should even be taken into contemplation for any future overseas tours, because, eventually, he will be discarded after just one failure, whilst others will get multiple opportunities to prove themselves.
Unsurprisingly, India's average opening stand outside the sub-continent in the last five years ranks amidst the lowest. And as the brouhaha for replacement get even more clamarous, the question arises - Who are India's next openers?
After their recent success for India 'A', the spotlight has fallen on Mayank Agarwal & Prithvi Shaw. The latter is still in his teens, while the former doesn't have any preceding international experience. If our regular, established openers stumbled against the English pacers, will it be righteous to introduce both the youngsters directly against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes, that too in their own backyard? Albeit, you take nothing away from the two. Both of them have scored ponderously whenever granted an opportunity.
India could have given a chance to Mayank Agarwal during their lasting home season, resting Murali Vijay for one series. Several other names, who continued to churn out runs in the domestic circuit in Faiz Fazal, R Samath, Priyank Panchal, etc, could have been tried and tested. But, India chose not to, kept on playing the trio of Vijay, Dhawan, and KL Rahul. And the result is quite distinct now. We do not have any backup openers psyched up, when we are in need of them.
Cheers,
Sparsh
When looked on paper, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan were the three openers who were expected to flourish this time around. Nevertheless, cricket is not played on paper, but on cricket pitches. Green ones in England, where the ball moves a considerable amount. And, when it is played on these pitches, the Indian openers have appeared rather edgy and anxious.
Having scored just 83 runs in 2 matches at an average of 10.375, the likes of Vijay, Rahul, and Dhawan have been deplorable. Although, opening the innings is not an unchallenging assignment. The bowlers are fresh with the new-ball in hand, receiving some additional aid from the pitch. There is very little time for them to settle down, comprehend how the pitch is acting, and savvy the intentions of the bowler. There is a very little margin of error for openers in red-ball cricket.
Murali Vijay does have the potential and flair to survive in these English conditions. Indeed, he was the highest run-scorer for his team when India had toured England in 2014. He is aware of where is his off-stump, knows how to leave the ball and defend the good ones right under his eyes, close to his body. Beyond any doubt, Vijay for sure shall be given one more game to prove himself.
Although, being 34, Vijay's career is at its twilight. In another two to three years, retirement will be around, and India will yet again be in search of an opener. Hence, it is necessary to start hunting a young prodigy, whom Team India can look upon as a long-term prospect.
KL Rahul was given a go by the team management, but, regrettably, he couldn't perform up to our presupposition. The right-hander from Mangalore has managed to score merely 48 runs in 6 innings (in South Africa & England) at an atrocious average of nobbut 8. He still remains to be vulnerable to the outswinger pitched on good length just outside the off-stump.
Howbeit, Rahul is just 26 and has a lot of cricket up in front of him. If he makes a few technical adjustments to his game and dedicates himself like Virat Kohli did after 2014, he indubitably can thrive into a renowned all-time great Indian batsman.
On the other hand, in my opinion, the team management has been unfair with Shikhar Dhawan. He is the only one who gets shown the door when everybody else also fails. It happened in South Africa, and now, it happened in England. If this is the case, I doubt whether Dhawan should even be taken into contemplation for any future overseas tours, because, eventually, he will be discarded after just one failure, whilst others will get multiple opportunities to prove themselves.
Unsurprisingly, India's average opening stand outside the sub-continent in the last five years ranks amidst the lowest. And as the brouhaha for replacement get even more clamarous, the question arises - Who are India's next openers?
After their recent success for India 'A', the spotlight has fallen on Mayank Agarwal & Prithvi Shaw. The latter is still in his teens, while the former doesn't have any preceding international experience. If our regular, established openers stumbled against the English pacers, will it be righteous to introduce both the youngsters directly against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes, that too in their own backyard? Albeit, you take nothing away from the two. Both of them have scored ponderously whenever granted an opportunity.
India could have given a chance to Mayank Agarwal during their lasting home season, resting Murali Vijay for one series. Several other names, who continued to churn out runs in the domestic circuit in Faiz Fazal, R Samath, Priyank Panchal, etc, could have been tried and tested. But, India chose not to, kept on playing the trio of Vijay, Dhawan, and KL Rahul. And the result is quite distinct now. We do not have any backup openers psyched up, when we are in need of them.
Cheers,
Sparsh
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