Rohit Sharma - A Potentially Mighty Test Opener

India's recent tours of South Africa and England have raised many questions about the tactics and team selection of the Indian cricket team. In the last few years, the opening partnership has been an issue for India in the longest format of the game.

Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, and K. L. Rahul have contributed inconsistently whenever they got chances throughout these last 3-4 years. Still, India haven't found out the right combination, which is important to dominate this format outside Asia.

In the Champions Trophy 2013, India stayed unbeaten and won the trophy with an enthralling win over England in the final. The most satisfying outcome, considering long term ODI goals, from that series was the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

Since then these two have been ruling the Limited Overs Cricket with their disciplined and quick scoring abilities. These two complement each other pretty well.

Rohit Sharma's career with the National Cricket team started majorly as a lower middle order batsman where he proved his worth but lacked in consistency. It was the Champions Trophy 2013, in which M. S. Dhoni promoted him to open the inning along with Shikhar Dhawan that boosted his career, and since then Hitman never looked back.

Let's have a look at Rohit's ODI record before and after the year 2013.

2018* - records are updated till 11-Oct-2018

It is clear that his number of hundreds and the average has increased since 2013. This shows his liking towards the opening spot.

Promotion to the opening spot has helped him in his limited-overs career. Can it be the case with his Test career? Let's have a look at the reasons he can be a successful opener for India in Tests.

Rohit needs control over his game

Rohit always takes his time to dominate ODI matches. Yet, he elevates his strike rate with some elegant, ruthless and huge cricketing shots towards the latter part of his innings. This is what is needed in Test cricket too, which will allow him to play more freely, giving him more time to settle and explode, whenever needed.

The partnership with Dhawan

Rohit's contribution has always helped Shikhar to play his game according to his own style. They complement each other so well that they are now the second-best ODI opening combination for India after the legendary Tendulkar and Ganguly.

His stats in First Class Cricket

Rohit Sharma's First Class Career as a Batsman

An average of 54.71 itself shows his hunger and batsmanship quality. Adding to this, he has 20 centuries to his name, which marks his ability to get to 100s and the highest score of 309 not out signals his ability to carry his innings to a greater total.

(The Lazy) Elegance

Test cricket requires elegant batsmen who can only add value with the bat in Test cricket. Arguably, Rohit Sharma is one of those rare elegant batsmen with high level of composure, determination and hard-hitting abilities whenever required.

He loves the pace

His record against the fast bowlers has been remarkable. He loves the ball coming onto the bat quickly. Especially outside Asia, where fast bowlers still dominate this era of Test cricket, he would be a precious asset to the Indian Cricket team.

The impact of his presence

His presence adds solidity to the batting line-up, which is already equipped with so much talent and proven skills. The only thing India is missing out here is the opening combination. Rohit Sharma, the name itself, is enough to boost the morale of the other team members.

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We could have never seen the mighty Rohit Sharma if MSD wouldn't have asked him to open in ODIs. He is arguably one of the most dangerous openers in current limited overs cricketing world. In Tests, it won’t cost much to play Rohit and if he doesn't live up to the expectations, they can look at other options. But if he does, then we might see another all-format legend from India.