Sourav Ganguly backs opening pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay ahead of Shikhar Dhawan

07/29/2018

Sourav Ganguly has revealed that he would opt for the pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay to open the innings for India in the upcoming series even if it meant that Shikhar Dhawan had to be dropped. India are scheduled to take on England in a five-match Test series starting August 1 in Edgbaston.

The Indian cricket team endured a heartbreaking defeat in the final ODI against Eoin Morgan and Co. as they lost the game and the series by a narrow margin of 2-1. The Men in Blue will be determined to avenge that defeat when they go up against the English in a five-match Test series that will start on August 1.

However, the Indian management are faced with an interesting dilemma ahead of the first match. Chief coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli will have to make an important decision as to who will open the innings for the Indian team in the first Test at Edgbaston. The likes of KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, and Shikhar Dhawan are the three names being mentioned to open the innings for the visitors, but it remained to be seen who Kohli would ultimately select.

Former Indian skipper - Sourav Ganguly - backed the opening pair of Murali Vijay and KL Rahul to open for the Indians as he pointed out that Dhawan was more of an ODI cricketer and his stats while batting on foreign turf were less than impressive.

"I would go with Murali Vijay and KL Rahul as openers in the Test series. Shikhar Dhawan is a good ODI player, and he was in decent touch during the ODI series as well.

"However, when he opens in Test cricket in overseas conditions, he doesn’t have a good record, be it South Africa, England or Australia. "In India, he scores hundreds in Test cricket ... it will be interesting to see the team management's decision on this," Ganguly told India TV.

Dhawan had a decent outing in the two foreign trips to South Africa and England with the limited-overs team but the left-hander has struggled in the aforementioned countries where he averaged just 22.06 from 18 innings in Test matches. That figure further dropped to 20.33 from six innings in England. Rahul, on the other hand, is yet to play Test cricket in England and will hope to get a chance in the upcoming series. All three batsmen mentioned earlier had played India's most recent Test match against Afghanistan last month – when Kohli was rested due to a neck injury.

Former Indian opener, Gautam Gambhir also placed his faith in the opening pair of Vijay and Rahul while he backed Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara to perform for India batting at number three.

"Because Shikhar Dhawan got a hundred in the last Test match but if you stick to continuity I would definitely go with KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, with Cheteshwar Pujara at three.

"Cheteshwar Pujara is going to be a key member of the Indian batting line-up.i think two batters whom i have a lot of hopes from is Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay," Gambhir said in an interview to Cricbuzz.

Sourav Ganguly backs opening pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay ahead of Shikhar Dhawan

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