India’s Opening Woes in Overseas Conditions

The last time India got an opening stand of 100+ in the SENA(South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries was way back in 2010 against South Africa in Centurion when the Sehwag-Gambhir duo put up a 137 run stand for the first wicket. Since then we have had only four half-century opening stands since 2011 which includes the one by Dhawan and Vijay in the first test at Edgbaston. Since 2006, there have been only ten 50+ stands in these countries which is a huge concern. The way the opening pair sees away the new ball is very important on foreign soil. If you are 2 down for 10 and your best batsman is on the crease facing the new ball, it is not a good sign at all. Your batting order gets exposed and there are high chances of collapse which happened in the previous test at Lords.

The poor form of Vijay, Dhawan and KL:

Murali Vijay is still preferred as the number one opening batsman because of his composure and application. In the last series in Australia(2014-15), he contributed significantly to 4 half-centuries and a century but managed to get only two 50+ stands in the whole series. While he has played well in the subcontinent, he has failed to deliver on foreign soil in the recent past. In the last two series played in South Africa, the average opening stand was 19.80 and they averaged just above 20 in England conditions since 2014. The problem now is that all three of them have continued to put up poor performances which have put the selection committee in a spot of bother.

Home vs Away average Comparison:

Shikhar Dhawan’s averages about 42.98 from 52 innings in tests which looks quite decent. But when we look at his average in the SENA countries, it falls to 27.12 with a century and two half-centuries in the 24 innings he has played. He has been given an ample number of opportunities but he has failed to bring the best out of him.

KL Rahul is a treat to watch when he gets going. His shotmaking is gorgeous and you just cannot take eyes off him when he does that, for example, his performance in the T20 series. But he failed to carry that form to the longer format. He has scored 158 runs in the 7 innings he has played which includes a century at the SCG in 2015. If he gets going he has the capability of taking the game away from the opposition. Kohli shouldn’t lose faith looking at this and should back him for this series at least.

Coming to Murali Vijay, who has been the best of the 3, he has scored about 1208 runs in 36 innings with two centuries and seven half-centuries. Murali Vijay’s style of playing is all about leaving balls and absorbing that extra bit of pressure when the ball is moving in the first hour of play. But he has failed to do so in this series as well as the previous one. He is going for the drive and getting trapped on that 5th stump line.

Average Balls Consumption:

The first rule while facing the new ball is to leave as many balls as possible and wait for the opportunity rather than the batsman going for it. Once you are set and you are able to see the ball clearly, you can start scoring. But this is where our openers have stumbled. Since the start of the year, India’s opening pair have survived an average of 39 balls on away tours. Since 2011, Indian openers have survived a mere 40 balls on an average in SENA countries, which is the worst among test playing nations.

Average opening partnership:

In terms of average opening partnerships since 2011, India is the second worst among the top teams with Pakistan at the bottom. India average a pathetic 26.1 with Pakistan’s 24.62 being the lowest. Surprisingly, teams like Australia, England, West Indies have been good at the top in away tours.

Since 2011, India has experimented with 8 opening batsman including the likes of Dravid, Sehwag and Gambhir. Even Abhinav Mukund was given a couple of chances in the 2014 England series but he failed miserably scoring only 64 runs in 4 innings. Dravid is the only opener to average over 35 in SENA among the eight since 2011. He has two centuries in five innings and averages a whopping 79.50. It’s not that they haven’t played well at all. Dhawan, KL and Vijay have played a decent amount of tests at home and averaged pretty well. But if we take the home average out of the equation, a better picture is obtained. Unless and until we perform well at the top of the order, winning matches away ain’t that easy.