Australia vs India Test Series: Ashish Nehra picks his first choice openers for the Test.
Australia vs India: The former Indian bowler shared his thoughts on the batting pair for the much-awaited Test series against Australia. Ashish Nehra picks his first choice openers for the test cricket and showed faith in them to play big.
The opening is something which India needs to ponder on, we cannot call it a weakness. The opening pair of the Indian team in Test format has been an issue for a while. The Men in Blue has four options for the opening slot for the test games – Prithwi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul.
Later after the second game, Rohit Sharma will join the side to provide much-needed strength. The toss-up for the slot is between Gill, Shaw, and Mayank Agarwal.
Looking at the scores of these players in the recently concluded series does not show a promising character. None of these has been consistent for the side which is a sign to worry.
Recent Forms of Openers:
Shubman Gill got a chance in the third ODI and scores 33 runs and amassed 43 and 65 in the practice game against Australia A. Mayank Agarwal got the initial start in the ODIs but failed to capitalize, getting 22 and 28 in the two ODIs and managed a duck and a half-century in the practice game.
Shaw on the other side has been lanky this time, he has duck 19, 40, and 3 runs in the recent games.
It will be a big challenge for the Indian skipper to choose the best pair for the opening but if Ashish Nehra would get the chance to pick, he will go with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal as his initial pairs.
Rahul has been out of the test game for almost a year but has impressed everyone with his white-ball form. It would be a sparkling sign for Men in Blue if Rahul keeps his white-ball form in test format too.
I will go with Rahul and Mayank, Ashish Nehra:
“Indian Test opening is something that has been in talks every time, I would not call it a weakness but it is a concern for Virat and Co. All the four options excluding Rohit Sharma, everyone one of them has good talent but the form is not with them. I would go with Rahul and Mayank to open the batting. If Rahul gets runs in the way he is getting in White Ball format, then he can be dangerous,” Nehra said in a video on Cricbuzz.
Nehra backed Mayank Agarwal as the opening slot because of the form he showed in the previous tour of Australia in 2018-19. Mayank making his debut in Australia showed his class with 76 and 42 at MCG while scored 77 at Sydney.
Team India bagged the series with 2-1 and it was India’s first test series win in Australia after 71 years.
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