IND and OFF: Team India wins and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be awarded to Gavaskar’s country… It has been almost four years since I heard these words. The Indian team last toured Australia in 2020-21. They defeated Australia 2-1 in the series and India won the title of Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This was the second time that India toured Australia and defeated the Kangaroos in the series. This time too, fans are expecting a similar charisma from the Indian team. Although the Indian team looks weak this time, despite being Australia’s weak team, the Indian team performed well last time.
India’s biggest problem on the tour of Australia will be their batting. Especially the consecutive defeats by the opening batsmen. Recently, the Indian team suffered a heavy defeat in the Test match against New Zealand. The poor performance of the opening batsmen was the main reason for this. This tour of Australia, the Indian team does not have any opening batsman that they can fully trust. Every opening batsman definitely has some glaring shortcomings. This has become the biggest pressure faced by the Indian team. In fact, the responsibility for getting off to a good start lies with the opening batsman. In this case, it is very important to do good things for them.
India has 5 openers
India have five opening batsmen for the tour of Australia. Who can open the batting for India. In this match, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the main openers for the Indian team. Apart from this, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been included in the team as a substitute opener. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill also join the team. He opened the batting for India on many occasions. In this scenario, the Indian team can use a total of five openers. However, all batsmen face problems of one kind or another. Talking about Rohit Sharma, he might miss the first game of this series. Apart from this, Rohit Sharma does not have any special form. Yashasvi Jaiswal is yet to play a single international match for Australia.
Talking about the other three openers, KL Rahul has been playing the role of a floater in the Indian team. He has also started in Australia, but his last start for India was in a Test match in February 2023. Shubman Gill’s numbers as an opener in Australia are quite astonishing. He scored 289 runs in six innings in three matches in Australia at an average of 51.80. His highest score during this period was 91 points. India won the Gabba Test 2021 against Australia due to his brilliant batting. However, Gill last opened for India in a Test in June 2023. In this case, he could only reach third place in Australia. Apart from this, the Indian team has also included Abhimanyu Iswaran in the squad. He is yet to make his debut for India. In this case, the entire batch of opening batsmen are questioned.
Opening batsman visits Australia for Test series
Current Indian players’ performance in Australia opener
As dangerous as 1999
The Indian team also toured Australia in 1999-00. During this period, India played three Test matches against Australia. India’s biggest problem is their opening batsman. India tried four openers in the three-match series but failed miserably in all of them. MSK Prasad, VVS Laxman, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Devang Gandhi’s names are in the list for the opener. The opening performance of these four batsmen was very disappointing. In this series, India does not have any opening batsman that they can fully trust. India lost the series 3-0 as a result. Something similar happened this time. Team India will enter this series without any consistent opener.
Australia’s 11 opening batsmen of the 21st century
India has visited Australia many times in the 21st century to participate in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 06. India had a total of 11 opening batsmen in action. Barring Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay and Shubman Gill, no one among these openers has any special statistics. The names of the 11 openers include Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Rohit Sharma.
Australia’s opening batsmen and their performances on the 21st Century Tour
Sehwag is India’s best opener
Former star batsman of Team India Virender Sehwag has performed well as an opening batsman in Australia. He caused a lot of trouble for the Australian bowlers in the opening innings. Sehwag played for India from 2003 to 2012 and started the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He scored 948 runs in 20 innings in 10 games at an average of 47.40. His highest score during this period was 195 points. Sehwag also scored four half-centuries and two centuries in Australia. His statistics are pretty astounding. Apart from Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar also has an amazing figure. Gavaskar played 11 Test matches for India in Australia between 1977 and 1986. He scored 920 runs in 19 innings at an average of 51.11. His highest score is 172 points. He also scored 5 centuries while pioneering Australia. Gavaskar’s statistics prove why the India vs Australia Test series was named after him.
India’s best openers in Australia
The opener has also failed on his last two tours
India’s opening batsmen have also failed in their last two Tests against Australia. Shubman Gill’s statistics aside for a moment, no other opening batsman has performed particularly well between 2018-19 and 2020-21. Despite this, India defeated Australia 2-1 on both occasions in the Test matches. This time, if the opener fails, the onus of victory will fall on other top-order and middle-order batsmen. In 2020-21, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant fulfilled this role well. Pujara is not part of the Indian team this time but Pant is ready to play against Australia.
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