With an uncanny ability to disturb the opposition's rhythm early in a Test match, Virender Sehwag made a rollicking impression as India's Test opener. He re-labelled the very essence of the definition of an opener with his aggression at the top of the order and it made way for a more open view towards Test openers, who were often typecasted into the Geoffrey Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar category.
Since his retirement, though, India have struggled to find an opener with as good an impact at the top of the order. The move to switch Sehwag from a middle-order batsman to an opener was lauded by several at the time and with India's opening numbers on the slide, they are pondering a move to fashion a middle-order batsman into another opener.
Rohit Sharma, who has struggled to nail down his place in the Test team, is expected to open in place of KL Rahul, who has had a poor run of form, for the upcoming series against the South Africa. "KL (Rahul) is definitely a great talent. Of course, he is going through a bit tough time in Test cricket. We are definitely concerned about his form. As selection committee, we haven't met after the conclusion of the West Indies tour. We will definitely take this (Rohit as an opener) point into consideration when we all meet and discuss about it," Prasad was quoted as saying.
Read: Rohit Sharma in contention to open in Tests in place of KL Rahul
But the plan is probably fraught with loopholes. Even though Sourav Ganguly, the man who forged the move successfully with Virender Sehwag, backs Rohit himself, question marks linger around his ability to play the swinging ball.
The ball does not swing around a lot in limited-overs cricket these days and Rohit has transformed himself into a beast of an opener in the format for India. His success at the top in ODIs is one reason for his place in the Test team in itself. Aside from a few knocks at home, Rohit has struggled on foreign tours and was recently benched in the Caribbean with Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari doing a great job.
The sudden move to possibly open with Rohit is bizarre. His technique against the new ball is susceptible, particularly with the red cherry swinging more than the white one. South Africans have a potent pace attack and even if the wickets are placid, they could generate enough movement to trouble Rohit early.
On the contrary, even if he does click in this series as an opener, it is unlikely that he would do as good a job in countries like New Zealand, South Africa and England, where the new ball moves around a lot for quite some time.
A stop-gap option is the last thing India need with the World Test Championship going on. While Prithvi Shaw is serving his ban and Murali Vijay appears nowhere near the selector's eyes, there are quite a few domestic players who have been making a fine impression. Chief among them is Abhimanyu Easwaran who has had a terrific time at the top of the batting order.
Last season, the opener spoke to Rahul Dravid about getting out after getting starts. Since then, when he made hundreds, he ensured they were big - 186, 183*, 201*, 117, 233 and 153 (in the Duleep Trophy finals).
With a home series against South Africa not really a stiff test, India should ideally use the opportunity to groom a youngster line Easwaran. The move to open with Rohit can at best be a stop-gap solution and a flawed one even at that.
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Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe & Sajjad Hussain
