Shikhar Dhawan was in Hong Kong. The Indian opener nicknamed Gabbar was en route to Australia to spend some time with his family before training for the ODI series between India and Sri Lanka after being omitted from the Test squad.
However an injury to first choice opener Murali Vijay, along with Dhawan’s recent ODI successes meant that he joined the Indian team which already had, ahead of him, openers KL Rahul and Abhinav Mukund in the squad.
KL Rahul pulling out of the first Test with a mysterious viral fever meant from nowhere, Dhawan was an automatic choice for the second opening slot, along with Mukund who by virtue of being in the original squad held first claim.
Dhawan grabbed the opportunity with a blistering 190 in 166 balls, firmly setting India on track for a huge win. Mukund who could not take his chance in the first innings and was out for just 12 redeemed himself with an 81 in the second innings – in which Dhawan failed.
This raises questions ahead of the second Test. Does it mean Gabbar is retained and ahead of Mukund in the race for the third opener spot (presuming Vijay and Rahul will get back their rightful places)? It would seem so for the time being, especially as he got the man of the match award in the recent Test.
Let’s go back to a few years back. The incomparable Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had established themselves as a rock solid opening pair for India. Together they were formidable and could, with some justification be compared with legendary opening pairs like Greenidge-Haynes and Hayden-Langer.
However, time and tide wait for none. In quick succession, both were dropped and were replaced by Murali Vijay and Dhawan
Let’s take a brief look at the careers of all these four openers.
Murali Vijay had to wait for a long time as third choice opener behind Sehwag and Gambhir. Whenever either Sehwag or Gambhir was not available he got a chance to play and did well.
This is indeed commendable as it takes courage of conviction to do well when you know in the very next Test the regular player will return. He hit hundreds in Test cricket filling in, and then sat out to await his turn. Finally when Gambhir was dropped, not surprisingly it was Vijay who was drafted in as first choice.
This was in the 2013 home series against Australia. After he scored two consecutive 150-plus runs in the second and third Test, he played as a regular opener, Vijay has not looked back and has cemented his place as the first choice opener.
Shikhar on the other hand first played as an ODI opener for India and then had to wait until the selectors dropped the great Sehwag. Dhawan grabbed the chance by blazing his way to an incredible 187, the highest score by an Indian on Test debut.
Shikhar, however, was inconsistent and did not do well on tough overseas tours of South Africa, New Zealand and England, leading to his axing from the Test Squad.
When Shikhar did badly in England, Gambhir was brought back for a couple of Tests – but, given one more chance, it seems his Test-playing role is over.
What about KL Rahul? He is one of the most exciting youngsters in recent times. He already has four Test tons in his 17 Tests, along with an ODI and T20 century as well, putting him in a rare club of cricketers who have tons in all three formats.
(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Rahul is the fastest player to achieve the feat. In fact he is the only Indian to have an ODI ton on debut. In Tests, Rahul hit a century in Sydney during only his second Test. Initially, in his career he used to hit 100’s or be out for single figures. Of late, however, his consistency has improved tremendously and with the backing of the skipper, he is the first choice opener along with Vijay.
The fourth opener is Abhinav Mukund. Incredibly, he and Virat Kohli made Test debuts together. However, their careers have taken vastly different routes.
Mukund was dropped after India’s terrible tour of England when all failed to do well (except Dravid who got 461 runs). However, it was only Mukund who was dropped, which was fair for a 21-year-old opener.
To his credit, he fought back with consistent performances in domestic cricket. As mentioned earlier in this piece, he was the third choice after Vijay and Rahul, but now Shikhar Dhawan too has come in the picture.
So the current situation is that India have four openers who can play musical chairs for selection. This suggests bench strength, and this bench strength is also seen in other areas like middle order (Rohit Sharma and Karun Nair), pace bowling (Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar), spin bowling (Kuldeep Yadav and Jayant Sharma) and even wicketkeeping (Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Patel).
All in all, India have a pleasant selection headache.
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