Sourav Ganguly picks his openers for Test series against England

What’s the story?

Ahead of India’s five-match Test series against England, which starts from August 1, 2018, the former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly has picked his openers to face off against England.

Context

India has three specialist openers - Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul. Vijay and Dhawan have been the preferred choice in recent times. Dhawan’s aggressive batting was in full display in the last test match against Afghanistan.

But this series will be a different kettle of fish. In conditions which suit the bowlers, like South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, Dhawan has struggled earlier. And in the ongoing warm-up match, Dhawan didn’t help his cause and got out for a golden duck.

Details

Number 4 position in ODIs and opening pair in the Test matches are the pain points for India in recent times.

Ganguly believes that Dhawan has had a good run in ODIs. He has performed well. But, according to Ganguly, his technique is not suited for the longest format of the game in English conditions. He feels that Rahul and Vijay are best suited to open.

Rahul and Vijay seem to have backed Ganguly’s words, as they both scored half-centuries in the ongoing warm-up match against Essex. Their talent and technique will sort out India’s woes at the top of the order.

It would be interesting to see how the team management would go with regards to this. Dhawan did score a century in India’s last Test match against Afghanistan. So will they drop him and pick KL Rahul? We will have to wait and see.

Reactions

I would go with Vijay and Rahul as openers in the Test series. Dhawan is a good ODI player, and he was in decent touch during the ODI series as well. However, when he opens in Test cricket in overseas conditions, he doesn’t have a good record, be it South Africa, England or Australia,” Ganguly told IndiaTV.

India need to be realistic when it comes to team selection. The technical faults in Dhawan’s batting in overseas conditions cannot be overlooked. Keeping in mind the challenges that would be thrown at India, it would be ideal to go in with players who are best suited technically and skill wise.

Probably, considering Dhawan’s recent form, he may be given the opportunity to prove himself. But if that move backfires, then India would have to go in with Rahul and Vijay.