3 Indian players who can replace Murali Vijay in Test team

Murali Vijay is a regular member of the Indian Test team and is known as a Test specialist. Vijay has been the part of the Indian team for a long period and he has 57 Test caps. However, his performance has dipped significantly in the last few matches and India dropped him in the third Test match against England. It is high time for the Indian selectors to take a tough call and search for a better opener.

Moreover, Vijay scored two ducks in both the innings of the second Test against England. This was an embarrassing record and he became the sixth Indian opener to score ducks in both innings of a Test match. Furthermore, his performance was disappointing in the first Test. As a matter of fact, he scored a total 26 runs in the first Test and failed to provide India a good start.

Murali Vijay is already 34, and he is in the twilight of his career. Hence, the selectors should think about picking younger players. Here we discuss three Indian players who can replace Vijay at the top of the batting order:

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#3 Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant

Pant has just made his Test debut in the ongoing third Test against England. The 20-year-old is rated as one of the best young players in the country. He used to open for the India U19 team and he can be tried as a Test opener. He scored total 25 runs in the third Test match, but he is expected to score a lot of runs in the future.

Pant is known for his attacking batting style and he can certainly score plenty of runs as an opener in the longest format of Cricket. As a matter of fact, many people rate him as the next Adam Gilchrist because he is also a left-handed Wicket-keeper batsman with a similar style. India has been searching for an aggressive opening batsman since the retirement of Virender Sehwag and Pant can be a great choice to fill Sehwag's shoes.

#2 Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw is another bright youngster of the Indian Cricket today and he can be a long-term solution of India's opening slot. Although Shaw is just 18 years old, his maturity on the field is beyond his age. He was the captain of India U19 team, which won the World Cup earlier this year.

Additionally, Shaw is a top order batsman, and he usually opens the batting for his team. He was one of the three U19 Indian players who got picked in the IPL this season. Afterwards, he played for the Delhi Daredevils in IPL and scored 245 runs in 9 matches this season.

However, he can certainly perform well the longest format of the game. The talented young batsman has 7 centuries in just 13 first-class matches with an impressive average of 60.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is undoubtedly the best option in this list. He is an essential member of India's limited overs team but he has not been able to replicate the same performance in the longest format of the game. However, he opens the innings for India in limited overs Cricket and he is quite experienced as an opener.

Meanwhile, Rohit is not part India's Test team which is playing in England but he was in a good touch during the limited overs matches. The 'Hitman' has played 25 Test matches for India and he has an average of 40. As a matter of fact, Rohit's ODI career reached the peak when he started to open the innings. Similarly, he can change his fortune in the Test Cricket if he starts to play as an opener.

In addition, Rohit is 31 years old with a vast experience. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if he gets a Test recall. His experience will be definitely beneficial for the Indian team in the longest format of Cricket