FEATURE
Follow UsSourav Ganguly scored 80.5% of his ODI runs while opening the innings. When the 2003 World Cup came along, he was the all-powerful captain enjoying the complete backing of the cricket board. Yet, he agreed with the suggestion of coach John Wright that having Sachin Tendulkar open in the tournament is better for the team. Ganguly pushed himself to number three and Tendulkar went on to score more runs than anyone else in a single edition of the World Cup.
KL Rahul’s potential with the bat is undeniable. However, from the evidence of two IPL seasons, he does not come out as shrewd a leader as Ganguly. Nor is he a Tendulkar yet who has earned the right to call dibs on a batting position of his liking. Hence by opting for the role he feels more comfortable in during the ODIs against South Africa, Rahul failed on the most crucial leadership aspect: putting the team above oneself.
While leading his IPL franchise, Rahul has thought of himself as the crisis man with the responsibility to bat the maximum possible overs. A strike rate of 120 during the Powerplay in the last two seasons is enough to summarize his approach. It is a role he could have served by coming in to bat at three while allowing someone else to maximize the first six overs instead. Especially if that someone else happens to be the all-time great of T20 cricket. Yet, Rahul chose to open while pushing Chris Gayle to number three.
It is obvious that Rahul feels more secure while opening the innings. He has done that with some success at the T20I level and lately at the Test level too. However, him opening the innings in ODIs - as has been the case recently when either one of Shikhar Dhawan or Rohit Sharma has been unavailable - does more harm than good for India.
Since that ill-fated semi-final against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup, India’s run in the ODIs has been underwhelming. They have not competed in the last three away series. Factors like the unavailability of key players due to the ever-increasing workload have been a major driver of this underperformance. In such gloomy times, perhaps the only positive has been the success of Rahul at number five. No other player since after the World Cup has been as prolific as him at that spot.
Whereas as an opener in ODIs, Rahul has been average at best. Of the 16 openers with 600+ runs since the start of the 2019 World Cup, only Shai Hope and Imam-Ul-Haq have scored at a lower strike rate than Rahul’s 79.3. Even his average of 43.1 is twenty short than Hope’s and more than ten runs fewer than India’s incumbent openers. It is almost as if Rahul is yet to identify the best tempo for constructing an innings while opening in ODIs. Something which is easier for him to do while batting lower down the order.
Rahul’s numbers as an opener is one of the two arguments against him. The other is an issue that a basic depth analysis of India’s batting line-up reveals. Rohit and Dhawan are India’s first-choice openers. Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal have chipped in as needed in the last two years. Ruturaj Gaikwad and even Venkatesh Iyer have done well at that spot at the IPL level.
As for numbers four and five, Rishabh Pant and Rahul are the incumbents in a full-strength side. Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav are the next in line. Sanju Samson is perhaps the only other in the domestic circuit who is an option for this role. In an already thin spread, India create a clutter for themselves by flipping Rahul across roles rather than giving him a prolonged run till the 2023 World Cup at number five.
Perhaps it is unfair to criticize Rahul alone for the move to open in South Africa. But, it is unlikely to be Rahul Dravid’s call out and out. In any case, it will be unwise to think that the decision did not have a stamp of approval from the head coach. It can easily be the case of the coach following the standard operating procedure of letting the captain take such calls. If this is indeed true then it will be a test for Dravid moving forward to understand when to take a backseat which he can while working with captaincy pros like Rohit. Or when to be more hands-on like he will have to be with whoever India plan to groom to lead the Test side.
Dravid said after the series that the move to have Rahul open was to give Shreyas Iyer and Pant a longer run. But giving players a longer run should not come at the cost of disrupting a plan for the team that has worked well. Especially with 20 months to go before the World Cup and in times when India might not even get 20 ODIs to play in this period.
As for Rahul, he may not want to go as far back in history as Ganguly to learn from. But, he can take a cue from MS Dhoni who, much like him, had no experience of leading a side at any level in his domestic career. While Dhoni’s claim to fame was a couple of breathtaking knocks at number three, he passed the chance of scoring far more runs and adding more centuries to his records by demoting himself where his team needed him the most.
Rahul batting at five solved one of the biggest issues for India in ODIs. They are muddling that by having him open in now and then. It is helping neither India’s nor Rahul’s cause. It is hurting the prospects of those waiting at the door as well.
