- India’s Opening Conundrum
Which two batsmen should open the innings for India in Bangalore? Should the team management play a left-hand/right-hand combination? Is Murali Vijay going to get the axe from the playing XI? Too many questions to clutter your mind with.But no definite answers.
As expected, all three of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have found a berth each in the fifteen-member squad. However, it remains to be seen which two openers make the cut for the solitary Test. Given the kind of form he has shown in his fourteen innings for an inconsistent Kings XI Punjab this season, it would be tantamount to farce if Rahul is not considered for the opening slot.
Shikhar Dhawan, meanwhile, has come good with the willow in the business end of the tournament after enduring a quiet middle phase since his return from a brief injury layoff. On the other hand, Murali Vijay has been missing out of action for quite some time now.
The last time he turned up for India was in the Johannesburg Test of India’s tour of South Africa back in January 2018, and a saturated CSK top-order meant a lone opportunity for him in IPL-2018, which he failed to seize by getting out for only a dozen runs against Kings XI Punjab in April. In this scenario, Rahul and Dhawan should be the automatic choices to open the batting against the Afghans. But, if recent Test stats are anything to go by, Rahul’s last five innings in whites have yielded a meagre 37 runs @ 7.2, while Dhawan and Vijay have fared slightly better on this count with averages of 43.6 and 20.20 to their credit respectively.
With India scheduled to play a five-match away Test series against England in August-September, the openers must eye this forthcoming contest against Afghanistan to iron out their respective deficiencies and get back to top condition before they face the tough challenge of negotiating fiery spells from England’s pace trio on seaming English wickets.
