England vs India: Sunil Gavaskar backs KL Rahul to open alongside Rohit Sharma

Team India has some issues to resolve ahead of the opening Test match against hosts England. The first clash of the five-match series will get underway on Wednesday (August 4) at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Although many are backing Virat Kohli’s men do well in UK, a couple of major blows dented India’s plans. Openers Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal won’t participate in the opening fixture and it would be interesting to who opens with Rohit Sharma in Nottingham.

While Shubman Gill is out of the entire tour due to a leg injury, a concussion has forced Agarwal to remain out of the opening clash. With England being one of the most challenging places for Test openers, Gill and Agarwal’s ouster isn’t a pleasant piece of news for India by any remaining. The remaining choices are between KL Rahul and uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has gone with the former while talking about India’s opening conundrum. Notably, Rahul scored an impressive hundred in the warm-up game. Highlighting the same, Gavaskar has backed the dashing batsman to partner Rohit in Nottingham. In fact, the 71-year-old wants Rahul to feature in all five games even after Agarwal’s recovery from injury.

I think KL Rahul will have lots of confidence: Sunil Gavaskar

“I think with KL Rahul scoring a hundred in the three-day game, he should be the person that they should consider to open the batting. Mayank Agarwal has had an outstanding season in 2019 but the last tour to Australia, he struggled a bit,” Gavaskar was quoted as per saying by India Today.

“Whereas with a hundred under his belt, I think Rahul will have lots of confidence. He is the person I would look at opening the batting, not having Pujara going up the order. Also, don’t forget, the last Test match that Rahul played in England (in 2018), he got a hundred at The Oval. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to look at Rahul as an opener ahead of Mayank,” the batting great added.

For the unversed, Rahul hasn’t represented India in Tests since August 2019. However, he participated in India’s last tour of England in 2018. Given he is also in form, the team management is all but likely to put him in the opening slot at least for the first game.

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