Dravid may open against Aussies

[DesiChap]

MUMBAI: In his 11-year Test career, Rahul Dravid has been asked by several team managements to consider opening the innings. Despite giving in to the 'demand' a few times at the start of his career, Dravid has resisted the call right through to emerge as one of the all-time great batsmen at No 3. When he was the captain, however, he himself took up that responsibility and along with Virender Sehwag equalled the world record opening partnership of 413 in Test matches in 2005-06 against Pakistan at Lahore. Soon, he realised its futility and returned to his favoured position. Now, as he enters the final stretch of his glorious career, the demand has turned into a request and might haunt him until he takes the flight to Australia. The team think-tank and selectors, it is learnt, are thinking on those lines to crack two problems with one stroke: take care of the opening conundrum and also accommodate Yuvraj Singh in the middle-order. Dravid's consent hasn't been taken yet though. When the selectors and captain Anil Kumble meet in Bangalore on Wednesday evening, they are expected to request Dravid to go on the tour as India's second opener alongwith Wasim Jaffer. Gautam Gambhir might well hold on to a place as the third opener. The selectors are zeroing in on Dravid as he has the technique to handle the job. Plus he "more often than not walks in to bat in the second over anyway." They also do not want to take too many chances against the Aussie pacers. What this move has done is to open up the team combination, making the selectors even look at picking a 17-man squad. The additional player will, however, have to be okayed by the Board's bigwigs. The think-tank is keen on a 17th player as they can then have an additional spinner in the ranks. All this could hurt the attempts of Dinesh Karthik to stay afloat as 'keeper-opener' because he hasn't made full use of the long rope given to him. After struggling with the bat, Karthik had poor run behind the stumps too in the Bangalore Test. Gujarat's Parthiv Patel is ahead in the race but may now board the flight only as the second 'keeper'. Karthik's immediate future for now is in skipper Kumble's hands who saved him from the axe in this Test itself. While the rest of the line-up picks itself, the biggest headache on Wednesday will be the state of the pace bowling unit. The injured duo of Zaheer Khan and RP Singh will be back from a well-deserved rest. That will three slots up for grabs. Ishant Sharma's promise and his first fiver revived his claims on Tuesday. Of the others, Munaf Patel is likely to be fit for the tour or so it is claimed. Given all this, Irfan Pathan's selection as an all-rounder should be a given, but there could still be a twist in the tale. Despite his hundred, Pathan's bowling hasn't exactly impressed observers. Ajit Agarkar is also lagging behind but don't rule out a recall for the wiry pacer on the basis of his record in Australia. Then there is VRV Singh who has been around for a while without making an impact. All this leaves Rajasthan's Pankaj Singh with a "very good chance" to be finally rewarded for his consistent domestic showing (25 wickets in 5 Ranji games).

[fineleg]

Additional spinner!?? Use the 17th player as additional batsman or fast bowler. No need for more than 2 spinners for Aussie tour.

[Ram]

When i read these reports, i sometimes ask myself - " Do you actually need to be a reporter to write these 'reports' ? " Many of the reports nowadays seem as though they were written off the office couch, with lots imagination.

[coffee_rules]

Bad move. BossBhai, can you pull up stats about Dravid, how he fares when he walks in before 20/1. I have a feeling his jacked up average at #3 is basically on some solid opening partnerships. If that's the case, he will not fare good as an opener in Aus and that will hurt him as well as India's chances. Just because he walks in early doesn't mean he will be as good as an opener. It has been tried and tested. Will not work.

[living]

And gambhir as the third opener??? Where the fack is Akash Chopra???

[bharat297]

^ I know ... seriously Gautam Gambhir has been given too many chances over this past year.

[King]

Recipe for disaster. He's just starting to come off from a bad run and he's going to be thrust as an opener. Lest give him time to get back into form.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[fineleg]

Brilliant work Bossbhai... To all those who wanted him to carry drinks in Aus, this stat slaps them on the face...the crisis man is RD What a player :thumbs_up:

[MundaPakistani]

Not a good idea. He has always struggled as an opener.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[coffee_rules]

R Dravid (comming in before 20/1)     5165 76 7 52.83 7 19 4

yen saar neevu hage heltira ... :(( more than half of his career runs are scored in such situations.

:nervous: My bad, I always felt he was successful when the ball had lost some shine. May be the stat to look for is < 10 overs into the innings. coming in at #3 and opening is quite different. The mind-set is different and it's not easy to adapt. It makes it even more difficult when he is struggling for runs/form.

[fineleg]

CR I agree with you that when he is not in best form, asking him to open is putting lot of pressure on him. But the above shows what a great player he is.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Guest dada_rocks]

Dravid of today is water-tight he gets out only when he goese berserk,, he will be just fine anywhere.. his failure as opener came in early part of his career and there is world of difference between that dravid and today's dravid.. Dravid, Jaffar (wud have loved sehwag sthg tells me he is sitting duck for lee's in-dipper) laxman tendu ganguly yuvraj dhnoi pathan that is one scary bating line-up

[Desi Cartman]

Get Ganguly to open ... he wont be scoring more than 15 in any of the innings anyway :hysterical:

[Ram]

The way things are shaping up, it looks inevitable that Dravid will HAVE to open, if we are to accommodate both him and Yuvraj. Till 3 days ago, Yuvraj was certainly not going to play in the first test at Melbourne, but after his match changing knock, it will be incredibly hard to leave him out. To make way for him, one of the middle-order bats will have to be either dropped, or made to open. Sachin wont open, nor will Saurav. The leftover options are either Laxman or Dravid. Both have equally good technique and are entirely capable of handling the new ball, but Laxman has scored the majority of runs off late in the middle order and Dravid has a bit more experience in handling the new ball, by virtue of playing at no.3 for so long. It looks as though the mantle will ultimately fall on him and its upto the man himself to decide what he is gonna do. IF he is going to open, we risk making one of our best batsman a scapegoat to Aussie bowlers with the new ball, and that may not be a smart thing to do. I think this is one of the toughest selection calls in the recent history of Indian cricket.

[fineleg]

MM, We should have Chopra and WJ opening for best bet to see off the new ball. sacrifcing RD to the new ball is bad for our lineup. we'll see how it affects us at mcg

[Ram]

MM, We should have Chopra and WJ opening for best bet to see off the new ball.

Cant leave out Yuvraj finey, simply CANNOT do that. He just won us the series with that innings of his. But for him, we would have been bowled out for 220 odd at best, Pakistan would have scored atleast 400 and the series would have gone then and there. Of course, the other option, which none of us have contemplated till now is this batting line-up. Jaffer Karthik Dravid Sachin Ganguly Laxman Yuvraj Yes, they may also contemplate leaving out Dhoni, but that would be suicidal too, IMO. So, essentially from the batting order from test 3, Karthik and Gambhir go, and in come Dhoni and Sachin.

[feverpitch]

Cant leave out Yuvraj finey' date=' simply CANNOT do that. He just won us the series with that innings of his. But for him, we would have been bowled out for 220 odd at best, Pakistan would have scored atleast 400 and the series would have gone then and there. [/quote'] calm down. no such thing would have happened. remember who was at the other end?