Indian openers should step up now to bring home the Champions Trophy glory

Finally, England found a way to break the Indian code in the third and final One-day international match of the series. In a series, where more than 300 runs were scored in every innings, India found a hopefully long-term middle-order batsman in the form of Kedar Jadhav. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also showed his improved death-bowling ability and Hardik Pandya underlined why the selectors were right in giving him a long run. But one area which has left India shell-shocked, despite the series win, is their opening conundrum. 

Dhawan didn’t have a pretty good start to his limited-over career, but portrayed consistency in his batting skills from 2013, only to falter again in the early part of 2015. Similarly, MS Dhoni’s gamble to send Rohit Sharma as an opener in the home series against England in 2013 reaped rich dividends as Rohit also showcased amazing consistency to make the spot his own. There started the Rohit-Dhawan partnership, and the 2013 Champions Trophy was the first gift the duo gave to the nation.  

In the recently concluded series against England, Shikhar Dhawan’s technical fallacies were brutally exposed where he had problems facing the moving ball. And most importantly, it was not a one-off occurrence, but something that has been his Achilles’ heel in Tests and T20s as well. His Test form was below ordinary over the last one year or so, and his form in the shortest format is not something that will define the amount of talent that he has. In the World T20 last year, Dhawan could manage to score just 43 runs from four innings and has been out of the team since then. 

In the first practice game against England, Dhawan seemed to be in good stead and scored 63 runs off 84 balls on a flat Brabourne track. With some trademark drives, Dhawan played some good shots but in the first two ODIs in Pune and Cuttack, his careless shots cost him his wicket.

In last October against New Zealand at home, in the absence of Dhawan due to a thumb injury, Ajinkya Rahane got a chance to open the innings with Rohit, but the duo couldn’t even mange to make a single 50+ stand. While Rahane scored only 143 runs in five matches, Rohit managed just 123 runs in five innings, before getting injured during the last match in Vizag. 

Come to think of another opener in the blend- KL Rahul. The Karnataka lad has been quite impressive since his first series as an International player, hitting a century at the SCG against a strong Australian bowling attack, but due to frequent injuries, he has been in and out of the team. Rahul indeed batted with some comfort in the fifth and final match of the Test series against England in Chennai, but in the three-match ODI series, he produced scores of 8, 5, and 11 respectively to increase the headache of the management. 

If Rohit Sharma gets match-fit, he is sure to open the innings at the Champions Trophy. But he was not that impressive in the series against New Zealand. Rohit had scored only 53 runs at an average of 13.35 in four games, before scoring 70 runs in the last game against the Kiwis. The Mumbaikar has only the IPL to get into the groove before the quadrennial event in June. 

In 2013, it was the Rohit-Dhawan opening combination that played an important role in India’s triumphant run in the Champions Trophy. But this year, India will have as many as four openers to choose from, who have sufficient amount of international cricket under their belt, but still, doesn’t have a settled pair. In all probability, it seems like it will be a three-way competition between Rohit, Rahul, and Dhawan, with Rahane hoping to get a chance to bat in the already-packed middle-order.