ENG vs IND | Mayank Agarwal should replace Gill given his impressive career, opines Deep Dasgupta 

After Shubman Gill made a remarkable start to his Test career against Australia, he was expected to play a key role in the England series as well. Though he lost his form, and then further misery confronted him when an injury ruled him out of the series against the Three Lions. That has left India with an opening choice to make, and it's likely to be a shoot-out between the Karnataka duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, both of whom have had their fair share of struggles away from home. 

However, it is notable that Mayank Agarwal averages a whopping 45.74 as opposed to KL Rahul's 34.59 in red-ball cricket. Mayank's axing from the opening slot in the series against Australia was considered harsh, given a dream start to his career, that had seen him score twin double-centuries, apart from the feat of being India's fastest opener to 1,000 Test runs. Former Indian gloveman Deep Dasgupta picked Mayank over Rahul, given the former's 'impressive' Test career.

"There are two straightforward options - Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul. My vote goes for Mayank Agarwal because, yes, he did have two or three bad performances but overall, I think his Test career has been really impressive - in India and especially overseas," Dasgupta stated on his YouTube channel, reported HT.

Reflecting on Rahul as an opener, the cricket expert believes that the dashing batter has improved his attacking game but hasn't worked much on his defence. So, he's better off in the middle-order in the longer format of the game. 

"For KL Rahul, see, he has opened or played in the top order throughout his life whether it's for Karnataka or India in red-ball or white-ball cricket.

"But the way he has been playing white-ball cricket, his technique has changed a bit, he's become more attacking. His attacking technique has improved but his defensive technique... he hasn't paid that much attention to it. That's why I feel that KL Rahul, as far as red-ball cricket is concerned, is a very good middle-order option."