4 Oct / 2016(429)…Test cricket : India need their openers to bat with intent.

As India once again got reinstated as No.1 Test team, one feels they can maintain this position if they are able to post big score regularly. This can happen if their openers bat with intent !.

Hence one feels that in near future pairing of Gautam Gambhir and Lokesh Rahul as openers might work wonders for India in test cricket. They are affluent to role-play when opening the batting. They both prospered in last year’s domestic cricket including IPL.

Rahul has been in sublime form in recent outings. He adopted his opening position in T20(IPL) and adapted it to Test cricket.

Gambhir on the other hand with wealth of experience is in cracking form (see table below)and he will be a great foil to Rahul, as he can guide him to play big innings(a la Sehwag).

The key is rotating the strike in first 10-overs of a Test innings. With Sehwag as his opening partner, Gambhir gave Indian a solid start. In between flurry of boundaries they took a lot of singles. During their career opening partnership, they hardly were run-out. This was not the case when Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan opened for India.

Below table is stats analysis of opening stand in last 6 Test matches played by India. I have highlighted those games in where Rahul was playing, and most times the scoring rate was every 3/4 balls.

Test/ Inns Opening pair 1st wkt partnership
Test Inn   Runs Balls Scoring shots 1s 2s 3s 4/6s Frequency of scoring shots
1st Test/1ST inn v WI Vijay – S Dhawan 14 37 8 6 0 0 2 4.63
1st Test/2nd inn v WI DNB DNB
2nd Test/1st inn v WI K Rahul – S Dhawan 87 117 32 12 4 2 14 3.66
2nd Test2nd inn v WI DNB
3rd Test/1st inn v WI K Rahul – S Dhawan 9 14 5 1 4 0 0 2.80
3rd Test/2nd inn v WI K Rahul – S Dhawan 49 49 19 4 8 4 3 2.58
4th Test1st inn v WI K Rahul – Vijay DNB
4th  Test/2nd inn v WI K Rahul – Vijay DNB
1st Test/1ST inn v NZ K Rahul – Vijay 42 65 19 10 3 0 5-1 3.42
1st Test/2nd inn v NZ K Rahul – Vijay 52 108 24 14 1 0 9-0 4.50
2nd Test/1st inn v NZ Vijay – S Dhawan 1 13 1 1 0 0 0 13.00
2nd Test2nd inn v NZ Vijay – S Dhawan 12 53 4 1 1 0 2 13.25
    266 456 112 49 21 6 35-1 4.07

 

 The new ball. 

 Gambhir is not old at 34. He is fit and in form. In test cricket we have noticed openers usually tend to get trapped LBW for low scores as it is not easy to face the new ball while it is swinging/seaming on any surface…especially for left-handed batsmen.

Gambhir unlike Dhawan and Vijay does not get trapped regularly for low scores. Will Indian selectors bite the bullet and re-instate Gautam in Test XI….and will Rahul once fit will get his place back ?.

 

Below table features Gambhir’s(as opener) Duleep Trophy performance last month(Sept 2016).

Duleep Trophy Runs Role-play/overs Balls Scoring shots boundaries Scoring rate Boundary rate
1st game 77 151(47) 143 35 11 3.97 13
2nd game 90 212(58.5) 193 52 11 3.93 19.30
59 118(33) 90 30 7 3.00 12.85
Finals 94 178(48.1) 145 56 8 2.58 18.12
36 36(17.2) 59 20 5 2.95 11.80
Total  356 695(204.2) 630 193 42 3.26 15

 

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