JOIN USIndia's opening conundrum
K L Rahul’s long stint during India’s “nets” on Tuesday must have been at once reassuring and relieving for the team management.
The young Karnataka batsman’s short, bright but injury-ridden international career has often affected the team balance but so far, India have somehow found men and means to overcome those tricky situations.
Come to think of it, Rahul isn’t the only opener to have been afflicted by frequent injuries. At various stages in the last one and half years, India have barely managed to field one opening pair in two consecutive Tests barring the four-Test series against South Africa late last year.
Stretching from the three-Test series in Sri Lanka to the current clash against England at home, India have had to grapple with injuries to one or the other opener. While Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay played just one Test each in Lanka with Rahul being the only constant factor, Vijay missed some of the action during the West Indies series this July-August. India couldn’t field the same opening combination in any of the three Tests against New Zealand in September-October at home while in the ongoing series against England, only Vijay has been able to play in all three Tests with three different partners – Gautam Gambhir, Rahul and Parthiv Patel --- at the top of the order.
Temporary replacements in the shape of Cheteshwar Pujara (in Lanka) and Parthiv Patel (in Mohali) have yielded positive results but India know they can’t afford to prolong these stop-gap arrangements. A quick glance at history suggests that all great teams had great opening combinations. Haynes and Greenidge (West Indies), Hayden and Langer (Australia) and closer home Sehwag and Gambhir whose combined 3551 runs at top of the tree came at an average of 59.18.
It was during the duo’s peak that India climbed the top of Test rankings for the first time in 2009. India currently are the No 1 ranked Test team in the world but the openers’ role, as a pair, in this feat hasn’t been worth shouting home about.
In 2015, India had just one 100-run partnership for the opening wicket (283 between Vijay and Dhawan against Bangldesh in Dhaka) while they are yet to have a century stand this year. A major portion of the blame can be attributed to lack of availability of one pair for any length of period save the series against South Africa in November-December last when Vijay and Dhawan opened in all four Tests.
“It is not in our control, injuries are part and parcel of the game,” said India head coach Anil Kumble, more out of resignation. One redeeming factor, if at all, though has been that a majority of these injuries have been cricketing (sustained after being hit by the ball either while fielding or batting).
“Unforunately, Rahul got hit while he was fielding in Vizag and that is how he got the injury. Ideally yes, that’s the settled opening pair (Vijay and Rahul) that you would want but I think in the circumstances we have done really well. Parthiv came in the last game and did a fantastic job at the top. I am sure Rahul will have a hit today and will be fine, let’s see how it goes,” Kumble explained.
Rahul indeed batted with some comfort and batted for an extended period on the day that should be comforting for the hosts. Kumble, though happy with the good show from replacements, hoped the injury run for the openers would end soon.
“For New Zealand, we had three different opening pairs, even in the West Indies we had an injury to Vijay and then Shikhar got injured against New Zealand, then Gautam had that freak injury (shoulder injury while fielding) in Indore but he could bat. So I think there is something happening with the openers in terms of injury, I hope that doesn’t go on. There has to be an end to it at some stage,” he remarked.