5 opening partners for Rohit Sharma in the Champions Trophy

India might have won the three-match ODI series against England, but Virat Kohli and co. will be worried about the opening combination. All three openers managed to score a combined total of 37 runs in the three matches with KL Rahul leading the chart with 24 runs (3 matches) while Shikhar Dhawan (2 matches) and Ajinkya Rahane (1 match) scored 12 and 1 respectively.

This is a concern for the Men in Blue ahead of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy as India don’t have any more ODI matches before the tournament and go into the tournament without a settled opening combination. India’s best opener in ODIs, Rohit Sharma – who didn’t take part in the series due to a thigh injury which he sustained during the fifth ODI against New Zealand – is certain to walk into the side and open the batting in the Champions Trophy. 

The selectors have a huge headache in picking the right man to open the innings with Rohit Sharma and also the third opener in case either of the first choice openers are injured. Let us take a look at the five batsmen who could open with Rohit Sharma in the Champions trophy.

#1 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan has been roundly criticised for his performances and trends on social media for all the wrong reasons whenever he comes out to bat. Does he deserve all the criticism he is getting for his failure? The answer is be a big no. 

Ever since returning from the finger injury he sustained during the Test series against New Zealand in October last year, Dhawan played just two ODIs and failed on both occasions. He might be vulnerable against the red ball in Tests, but when it comes to the ODI format, Dhawan is one of India’s best batsmen. In spite of all these failures, the Delhi batsman averages 43 in this format, which is more than that of Rohit Sharma. 

In the last bilateral series that he played, Dhawan scored a huge century and followed it up with a couple of fifties in India’s tour Australia in 2016. He is mentally strong and is a completely different player when it comes to ICC tournaments. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and is one of the reasons why India won the tournament. 

Even in the 2015 World Cup, Dhawan was India’s best batsman as he scored two centuries along with few crucial knocks in the tournament. In spite of his poor run, I will back Dhawan to open the innings with Rohit when India go to England to defend their Champions Trophy crown. 

#2 KL Rahul

KL Rahul has had a great start to his international career. After scoring a Test century on debut, the Karnataka batsman became the first Indian to score a century on his ODI debut and in just his third T20I, he became the third Indian batsman to score a century in all the three formats. 

After the promise he showed earlier, a lot was expected from him in the ODI series against England. All the three matches saw 300 being breached easily but Rahul failed big time as he scored just 24 runs in the three matches combined.

With these performances, his place in the Indian XI for the Champions Trophy is under threat. The 24-year-old is yet to play in England and it will be a big gamble if the team management prefers the Karnataka batsman to open with Rohit. Instead, it will be better if Rahul is in the team as the third opener alongside Rohit and Dhawan.

#3 Ajinkya Rahane

Without a doubt, Ajinkya Rahane is one of India’s best batsman in Tests. But, when it comes to the limited-over formats, Rahane is nothing more than a liability. An average of 32 with a strike-rate of 78 is not acceptable in the modern era. To be fair, he didn’t get a long run in one particular position and this could be the reason for his failure in this format.

Often, he was criticised for failing to rotate the strike in the middle overs when he batted at number 4. The problem continued when he opened the batting for the Men in Blue as he struggled to get going after taking a lot of time to get his eye in, and he has also found it hard to accelerate when the team needed him to. This will affect the team’s cause in big chases. In spite of being successful in chasing over 300, India have never chased down more than 300 in the matches that featured the Mumbaikar.

It is highly unlikely that India’s vice-captain in Tests will get into the squad for the 2017 Champions Trophy as the selectors might pick Dhawan and Rahul ahead of Rahane.

#4 Rishabh Pant

Over the last 12 months, Rishabh Pant has been in the form of his life and on the selectors’ radar for a while. He was rewarded for his performances in the domestic circuit with a place in the Indian T20I team to face England. If he is successful against the English, he might have an outside chance not only to make it to the Indian squad for the Champions Trophy but also to open the innings with Rohit.

Pant will be the perfect foil to open the innings with Rohit as he is aggressive and likes to go after the bowlers right from the word go. This will allow Rohit to get his eye him and go for the kill later in the innings. This is something he has been doing in the past and the Indian team management will know the kind of destruction he can do if he bats longer.

Making Pant open the innings with Rohit will also make sure that the team doesn’t lack runs in the first few overs as the teenager from Delhi is capable of getting the team off to a flying start. 

#5 Manish Pandey

Two of India’s biggest positives from the series should be Yuvraj Singh getting back to his groove and Kedar Jadhav’s promising performance at number 6. These two came at the expense of Manish Pandey, who was been in and out of the Indian team for a while now. One cannot forget Pandey’s match-winning century against the Australians at Sydney in 2016. It won’t be fair if he is dropped from the team after an average series against New Zealand. 

If Kohli decides to do a Dhoni and make Manish open the innings with Rohit Sharma, this will roll back the years and take us to 2013 where Dhoni asked Rohit to open the innings with Dhawan, in spite of having Murali Vijay in the squad. This won’t be the first time he will be opening the innings as the Karnataka batsman has already opened the innings for his former IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009 and 2010.

Though this is unlikely to happen, India might be forced to open with Pandey if any of the opener gets injured and the team management doesn’t trust the third opener in the squad or the selectors go in with an extra bowler instead of a third opener.