CHENNAI: India will have their sixth opener in Tests in less than a year, as the MSK Prasad-led selection committee on Thursday picked Rohit Sharma to partner Mayank Agarwal for the three Tests against South Africa. Last October, India gave a maiden cap to Prithvi Shaw.
A couple of months later, in place of Murali Vijay Mayank Agarwal debuted in Melbourne, where Hanuma Vihari was pushed up the order. Now with KL Rahul dropped, India have decided to hand Rohit the opportunity. This is not entirely because they are convinced that he is cut out for the role, but more because he has put his hand up and wants to play irrespective of his position.
Whether this move will turn into gold like Virender Sehwag remains to be seen. But choosing a batsman sans any experience of opening even in first-class matches ahead of specialists like Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal — who have scored bucketfuls as openers in Ranji Trophy and for India A — raises the question whether domestic performance is taken seriously.
“We are definitely looking at him (Rohit) and want to give him an opportunity up the order. He is keen (on opening) and the selection committee as well as everyone (team management) is keen. We want to see where he stands and then take a call,” Prasad said in Delhi after naming the squad.
It is the sort of gamble one believed India had stopped taking in longer formats after losing Test series in South Africa and England. On these tours, they were guilty of making wrong choices which had a huge influence on the outcome. Be it playing Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Rahul in Cape Town, benching Cheteshwar Pujara in Birmingham or leaving out Ajinkya Rahane for Rohit.
As the selectors and team management build a side for the first cycle of the Test Championship, one expected them to have clarity in defining roles. But it appears they are back to trial and error. In the five Tests against South Africa and Bangladesh, Rohit can be banked upon to score big thanks to his familiarity with conditions and nature of surfaces. But there are Test tours of New Zealand and Australia next year. If Rohit fails, India will be forced to look at fresh alternatives.
India are not short on options and have named Shubman Gill as third-choice opener. There are Easwaran and Panchal. By naming Rohit, Agarwal, Easwaran and Panchal in the Board President’s XI squad for the three-day fixture before the first Test, the selectors have complicated matters. If Rohit and Agarwal open in that game, why have the other two in the squad? If those two open, then Rohit goes in with no experience of facing the new red ball.
The call appears confusing, like the musical chair for No 4 during the World Cup. Like then, this decision to ask Rohit to open looks shortsighted. Selection is often about tough calls and there is room for courageous decisions, but this looks forced.
There seems to be nobody to say, “Sorry, the middle-order is packed. Please wait for your turn.”In the absence of that firm guiding voice, something unusual has happened. Instead of the selectors asking a player if he is comfortable slotting into a new role, it’s the player who has said he is. What message this sends to the specialist openers toiling in first-class cricket is anybody’s guess.
India squad for Tests
Virat Kohli(c), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill.
Out: KL Rahul,Umesh Yadav
Board President’s XI
Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, AR Easwaran, Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad, KS Bharat (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Avesh Khan, Ishan Porel, Shardul Thakur,
Umesh Yadav. (Sep 26 to 28 in Vizianagaram)