India's conundrum down under: Where are specialist openers for Border-Gavaskar Trophy?
The Indian cricket team is facing some tough questions regarding their batting strength for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Captain Rohit Sharma is doubtful for the at least first Test which might further expose India's opening woes in Australia.
Australia confidently revealed their 13-member squad for the opening Test match against India by naming uncapped youngster Nathan McSweeney as their specialist opener to partner veteran Usman Khawaja. But India, who announced a big squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on October 25, are clearly lacking the same confidence with their opening options for the five-match Test series starting November 22.
It’s been almost ten years since India last lost a Test series in Australia having won 2-1 in both of the last two tours. With the World Test Championship final spots up for grabs, both teams are expected to battle till their last breath and it will require top-notch performance from the opening pairs. The focus will be on openers as India travel with inexperienced specialist options with Rohit Sharma for the series opener in Perth.
But do Rohit Sharma’s men tick all the boxes after a shock and embarrassing 0-3 Test series loss against New Zealand at home?
Specialist openers and back-up options for upcoming tour
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been India’s first-choice opening options in red-ball cricket in 2024 with the latter making a quick impact to kill the competition since his debut in July 2023. Uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran has joined KL Rahul and Shubman Gill as India’s specialist opening options for the Australia series but it's not enough to threaten Australia star-studded bowling attack.
Rohit’s potential unavailability for the opening two games has led fans to question India’s batting strength after a lack of runs in the recent Tests against the Kiwis. KL Rahul and Gill last opened in Test cricket in 2023 with the former struggling to find a place in the playing eleven at the moment.
Easwaran, 29, scored five centuries in six first-class games before India A’s tour of Australia. Fans rejoiced after the BCCI included Easwaran in India’s squad for the BGT but it came down crashing when he scored just 36 runs in four innings for India A, adding salt to India’s opening woes.
Jaiswal has been superb in red-ball format since his debut last year but the young left-handed opener will be facing Australia at their home turf for the first time in his career. Rohit’s Test numbers in Australia don't add much confidence to India’s batting strength as the under-pressure skipper is yet to score a hundred in his 14 Test innings in Australia.
However, this is not the first time India have faced dilemma and uncertainty with opening options for the BGT tour. During the 1999-2000 Australia tour, Sachin Tendulkar-led India used Sadagoppan Ramesh, VVS Laxman, Devang Gandhi and MSK Prasad as openers in a three-match series and suffered an embarrassing 0-3 series loss, which triggered heavy criticism from the fans regarding India's rotation strategy with opening options. Will they dare to make experiments with opening pairs in the upcoming tour or stick with the Rohit-Yashasvi pair?
Not-so-impressive run from Indian openers in recent Australia tours
However, this is not the first time that the Indian team is travelling to Australia with an opening conundrum as they have faced a similar situation in the previous two tours. India used just one opening pair during the first three Australia tours in the 21st century but returned with heavy series losses which forced them to look at multiple options at the top.
India utilised four openers Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw for a four-match series in 2020-21 with no player playing all games. Gill was the only effective opener with 289 runs in six innings at an average of 51.80 but India emerged victorious after heroic innings from middle-order batters. Rohit scored 129 runs in two games in his first-ever Australia Test tour with the highest score of 52.
From the current squad, KL Rahul also opened alongside Murali Viajay and Mayank Agarwal during the 2018-19 tour. Rahul scored just 57 runs in 5 innings but once again the middle-order came to rescue India and help register a 2-1 series win.
Kl Rahul’s current form and his poor show during the 2018-19 Australia tour further exposed India’s lack of specialist opening options for the upcoming series. Gill has an impressive record as an opener in red-ball cricket in Australia but can India afford to shift his position with no direct replacement for the No.3 role?
Past openers’ golden run in Australia sans silverware
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, India’s two best-ever Test openers, were impressive against strong bowling attacks but failed to produce favourable results for the team in the away series.
Before Gill, only Gavaskar had managed to maintain a fifty-plus average while opening in Test matches in Australia. The former captain scored 920 runs in just 19 Test innings at an average of 51.11 with five centuries as an opener in Australia, but at the end of the day, it was not enough for India to register a series win.
Sehwag, who holds the record for most Test runs by an Indian opener in Australia, featured in three tours but India suffered a heavy 0-4 series loss in his last appearance in 2011-12. Murali Vijay made a stunning impact in his maiden Australia Test tour in 2014-15 with 482 runs at an average of 60.25 but he scored just 49 runs in four innings as an opener during the 2018-19 tour, where India registered their first-ever BGT series win in Australia.
Recent opening woes swept under the rug?
Rohit and Yashasvi opened for India in all three Test matches against New Zealand but the duo failed to make any significant impact with just one fifty in six innings each. The management is unlikely to tinker with India’s opening pair if Rohit remains available for the entire Australia series as they lack a like-to-like replacement.
Talking about the stats of current Indian openers in Australia, there is just one Test hundred among five players, so it would be foolish to rely on just openers for a positive series result.
Easwaran remains uncapped and Jaiswal is yet to play in Australia, so only Rohit, Rahul and Shubman are familiar with the playing conditions. Rohit has played just two Test matches in Australia as an opener while Rahul has featured in four and Gill in three. So it’s just nine Test matches among three openers before the 2024-25 tour.
In terms of performance, Rohit has registered just one fifty in his four Test innings as an opener in Australia while Rahul has a brilliant hundred but in seven innings. Gill has the best numbers among the trio with 289 runs at an average of 51.80 but as mentioned above, the Indian think-tank is unlikely to shift his role.