The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Dravid wanted to open

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Saturday, Jan 14, 2006

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Dravid wanted to open

Special Correspondent

Lahore: India captain Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had an animated discussion before the start of the day's proceedings, in the presence of coach Greg Chappell.

The incident, shown on television later, happened during the Indian nets before the toss. Chappell remained silent throughout the conversation between the present and the former skippers at the Gadaffi Stadium.

It is learnt that the discussion revolved around opening the innings and that Dravid wanted to take upon himself the responsibility of walking out with Virender Sehwag.

Chappell, however, downplayed the event in the evening. "We were just talking cricket. There is a game on and many things have to be discussed," he said.

There was considerable debate about the inclusion of Ganguly in the eleven leading up to the Test. Finally, in what appears to be a short-term solution, opener Gautam Gambhir had to make way for the Bengal cricketer.

Interestingly, when Ganguly returned to the Indian team after missing the first two Tests in Pakistan because of a back injury in the 2004 series, it was an opener, Aakash Chopra, who had to make way for the then Indian captain. Wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel was pushed to the opening slot in order to create a berth for Ganguly in the middle-order.

Yuvraj Singh, Ganguly's replacement in the first two Tests, had notched up a hundred on a green-top in the second Test at the Gaddafi Stadium, and he could not have been left out of the decider.

Once again Yuvraj Singh's form — he scored two crucial half centuries against Sri Lanka at home — has come in the way of Ganguly being fitted in the middle-order.

India has picked three specialist openers — Virender Sehwag, Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer — for this tour but two of them find themselves excluded from the eleven.

Gambhir and Jaffer did bat impressively in the tour game against Pakistan `A' earning praise from coach Greg Chappell, a believer in specialists, but the compulsions of the side's composition appears to have forced the hand of the team-management.

There often is bold talk in India about grooming openers, but these men in the Indian top-order are the most vulnerable when marginal selections have to be made.

Consequently, India finds itself without a well-settled opening combination, which could be detrimental to the side's progress in the future.

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