Ahead of Test against England from July 1 the difficulties of Team India are not ending. Earlier due to injury KL Rahul was unavailable for the test, and now Indian captain and opening batsman Rohit Sharma became Covid positive before the match. So now Rohit has also been ruled out of fifth test. After that, now the question arises who will replace Rohit to open the innings? However, the Indian team management has send Mayank Agarwal, to England as a replacement for Rohit. But the matter of concern is that Mayank has not got enough opportunity to practice like the other Indian players present in this tour. According to me sending Mayank Agarwal to England with enough match practice could impose more difficulties for Team India. This can be termed as a blunder by the team management and the selectors as they failed to include a replacement after KL Rahul was ruled out and only two openers Rohit Sharma and Shubham Gill were sent with the Indian team.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, I would suggest Cheteshwar Pujara to open the batting with Shubman Gill. He is a better option than Mayank Agarwal. Hanuma Vihari at number three, Virat Kohli at number four, and Shreyas Iyer at number five would be the right choice. In the last few months, Pujara has scored a lot of runs in county cricket and his defence is also very strong so together with Shubman Gill, he can handle the opening innings well. Hanuma Vihari was sent at number three in the last test match against Sri Lanka, and he scored a half-century.
Now the situation has become such that Team India has no other option but to try a new opener and anyway India has no shortage of young players, and these players are waiting when they get an opportunity to prove their talent. The only thing that goes in favour of Mayank Agarwal is that he is the regular opener for the team. Of course, there will be pressure on him but this pressure is going to be on him as well as India’s top order as to how they give India a good start, as the Indian team will have to put a score of more than 350 on the board in the first innings.
The writer has been a national selector apart from being a former wicket-keeper batsman.