Can We Look Beyond the Opener Obsession in India?

The selection of Indian players for the first two test matches against the visiting England team has been made. From what has been reported on TV channels and newspapers, the sports media at large seems obsessed with who is going to form the opening pair for India, who are the reserve openers and what could have been a better selection. To add more fuel to the opener conundrum, the chief selector, Mr. Sandeep Patil underlined that Rahane has been retained as a middle-order batsmen and not-an-opener. What surprises me is that nobody has bothered to question the form of the middle or the late order
that has been woefully short on runs in the last, two seasons. Yes, the Sehewag-Gambhir equation has not been delivering but neither is the Indian middle order. Perhaps, some wisdom will prevail and a journalistic/media resource will highlight the state of the entire batting line-up rather than obsessing about the openers. Just to end this discussion, what is the big fuss about selecting Murali Vijay over Mukund or not giving Rahane a chance to partner Gambhir? The seriousness with which these questions are being raised make it seem like Gambhir and Sehewag have outrun their shelf-life and the possible options are might talents...which is not the case!

Murali Vijay or Virat Kohli?

Gautam Gambhir has been declared unfit for the last test match between SL and India. It seems that the most probable selection would be Murali Vijay who is reputed to have a decent technique and is a full-time opener. However, it might be a wise idea to try-out Virat Kohli who has been piling on the runs in the domestic games. Yes, he did not do very well in the limited opportunities he got in the recent one-dayers, but he does look like a player who is meant to play international cricket. Just about a season back, he was asked to open in a series against the Lankans, and he adapted to the challenge. He has just scored another double century for Delhi and his current form should not be ignored. This way, the selectors would be preparing one player who could also open in the ODIs in case Sehewag, Sachin or Gambhir get injured.