FEATURES
Follow UsIn Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal & Shubman Gill, India’s top three is pretty much set in stone for the five-Test series away in Australia. But the beauty of long tours is that you seldom have the same top-order batters playing the entire series.
Injuries are a frequent occurrence in long tours, but so are drastic drops in form.
India know this second part very well: Across the last two BGTs, they’ve had to drop as many as four openers mid-way through the tour at some point (Vijay, Rahul, Shaw, Agarwal) due to the individuals in question not being able to buy a run. This is why, come the 2024/25 BGT, the visitors *will* need a spare opener that will be capable of doubling up as a spare batter anywhere in the top five or six.
One of Sarfaraz Khan or KL Rahul will be the reserve middle-order batter, but who should the reserve opener top-order batter be for the Australia Tests? We’re going to be analyzing just that.
Before we get into the contenders, below is the list of how every Indian top-order batter — either uncapped or not a first-team regular — has fared in first-class cricket since the start of 2023. This list includes everyone who has scored at least 1,000 runs batting in the top three in the said period and is sorted by average.
From the list above, it is evident that Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran is, on current form, the best top-order batter in domestic cricket in the country and should be the runaway favourite to open in case one of the incumbents miss a match or lose form and are dropped. We’re certainly going to be looking at his case in this article.
However, we’re only going to be talking about three players from this list above — Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, because they’re the ones who have made it to India ‘A’ squad for the two unofficial Tests against Australia ‘A’ starting later this month.
We’re also going to be looking at the case of Ruturaj Gaikwad, the man who will lead India ‘A’ in Australia, and a couple of other wildcard picks.
Red-ball numbers this season: 632 runs @ 105.33; 4 hundreds in 8 innings
The case for Easwaran
Easwaran has been smashing the door down the same way Mayank Agarwal did five years back. He’s scored four hundreds in his last six red-ball innings and, since February 2024, is averaging 99.1, having scored 991 runs in 13 innings. Crucially, he’s scored big runs in every single competition he’s played, averaging over 75 in all three of Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy.
That’s not all. Easwaran has been scoring daddy hundreds. In the four tons the right-hander has amassed since February, he’s been dismissed under 190 just ONCE. He’s scored eight tons since the start of 2023, and only two of these eight hundreds have seen him get dismissed before 150. That’s the real penchant for scoring big runs right there, and that is exactly what you need from your top-order batter in a country like Australia.
If India pick their squad for the Australia tour tomorrow, then Easwaran has to walk into it; that’s how crazy his numbers have been.
The case against Easwaran
The only real case against Easwaran is the lack of promise he’s shown outside Asia in his first-class career. The 29-year-old, in his career, has played 11 first-class games across South Africa, England, New Zealand, and West Indies has averaged 29.78. In the 19 innings he’s played in the said countries representing India ‘A’, the opener has managed just one hundred.
This next bit might be a stretch but Easwaran not having played in the IPL means that the selectors, at this point, do not really know how he’ll fare against world class bowlers who bowl consistently fast, let alone on Australian wickets.
But that being said, a good showing in the Australia ‘A’ series should be enough to seal his spot in the squad.
Red-ball numbers this season: 472 runs @ 47.2; 1 hundred in 10 innings
Ruturaj Gaikwad is really a curious case. His numbers are far from extraordinary, and he is far from a run-machine that you usually associate with Indian openers. He’s had some good knocks in red-ball cricket, but that’s about it. He’s only scored four tons in FC cricket in the last four-and-a-half years and, in his career, he only has a solitary score over 150.
Yet the selectors seem really keen on him outside Asia, evident by his being named captain for the ‘A’ tour and also being picked for the South Africa Tests last year.
The selectors and management's high opinion of Gaikwad seems to be purely instinctive, based on what they’ve seen of him against quality fast bowling in the IPL (where he averages 44 versus the quicks). The 27-year-old has remarkably played no first-class games for India ‘A’ outside Asia.
In fact, the closest we’ve seen Gaikwad in the longer formats outside India is the three ODIs he played across South Africa and West Indies. And there he registered scores of 19, 8, 5 & 4, perishing to pace 4/4 times while averaging 4.67.
The Australia ‘A’ series will tell us whether the selectors and management’s intuition is right or not. Considering how highly he seems to be rated, don’t be surprised if Gaikwad gets the nod for the BGT if he outshines Easwaran in the ‘A’ tour. Probably not fair, but sometimes it is what it is.
Red-ball numbers this season: 595 runs @ 54.09; 3 hundreds in 11 innings
He’s only 23, but Sudharsan has quietly been making a strong case of his own to be an outside pick for the reserve opener spot in the BGT.
He’s started this season superbly, and he will head into the ‘A’ series against the Aussies fresh off a double ton against Delhi, where Tamil Nadu were asked to bat first. That was his second world-class knock of the season, with the first being the 111 he scored in the fourth innings against a very strong India ‘A’ attack in the Duleep Trophy in an innings where only one other batter passed 20.
Sudharsan is in an interesting spot because a) clearly, the selectors see the potential he possesses and are keen to fast-track him, and b) he is starting to put up numbers to back up the hype and potential.
What’s more, at 23, he already has county experience aside from having proven himself in the IPL against quality bowling. He’s also played three ODIs on some really pacy & bouncy South African surfaces, where he’s averaged 63.50. And on top of all that, he is a left-hander.
Whisper quietly, but if Sudharsan ends up outscoring both Gaikwad & Easwaran against Australia ‘A’, he might end up bolting right into the BGT squad.
Red-ball numbers so far this season: 234 runs @ 29.25; 0 hundreds in 8 innings
Devdutt Padikkal got capped in Tests earlier this year on the back of a stunning end to the 2023/24 domestic campaign but despite being named in the India ‘A’ squad for the Australia tour, it’s very unlikely that the 24-year-old will make it to the BGT squad unless there are a multitude of injuries.
He was already behind in the pecking order when the season began and he’s had an ordinary start to the new domestic season, crossing fifty just twice in eight innings while having no knocks of substance apart from the 92 he scored against India ‘A’ in Anantapur.
He’ll need a truly extraordinary series against Australia ‘A’ to even get the selectors and management to start thinking of considering him for the BGT.
Who could be potential wildcard picks?
Red-ball numbers this season: 250 runs @ 83.33; 1 hundred (double-hundred) in 3 innings
At this point in time, everything points towards the management having already moved on from Cheteshwar Pujara, whether it be him not being picked for the Australia ‘A’ tour or him not even making it to any of the Duleep Trophy squads.
But if push comes to shove, who can rule out Pujara being drafted into the BGT squad at the last minute as a reserve batter?
The 36-year-old has just smashed yet another first-class double-ton, but forget that. This is a man who orchestrated the BGT win in 2018 and played a huge hand in the 2-1 series win in 2020/21. Pujara has more experience batting in Australia than every other batter in the Indian domestic circuit put together, let alone the ones who are the prime contenders.
And in a way, from a psychological standpoint, the Aussies *will* hate to see him even if he’s evidently a far worse batter than he was back in 2020 & 2018.
But that being said, there is a good chance the management will see going back to Pujara as a step backwards. A transition can never happen if you keep going back to the older folks because it’s ultimately nothing but a temporary fix at best. Perhaps Gambhir, Agarkar & Co. are of the mindset that they might as well fail with the younger players rather than trying to win with the older players, because the latter does nothing for the future of the side.
India already tried using Pujara as a ‘quick-fix’ replacement in the one-off Test against England in 2022 and the WTC Final last year, and both moves failed.
Red-ball numbers this season: 152 runs in 1 innings batting at No.3
Washington Sundar as a reserve top-order batter for the BGT, who says no?
Many a time in the past, Sundar has been forcefully pushed as an Ashwin replacement, but when it comes to red-ball cricket, the 25-year-old is an exceptional batter who can double-up as a second or third spinner. And he’s just hammered a 152 batting at No.3 for Tamil Nadu. Talk about timing, eh?
Sundar as a reserve batter in the BGT just makes sense. He already has prior Australia experience that none of Gaikwad, Easwaran & Sudharsan do and he’s excelled against the likes of Cummins, Hazlewood & Lyon (albeit the sample size is small). He’s shone in Test cricket as a batter in the limited chances he’s got and has shown that he can compile quality knocks on tough surfaces against good bowling attacks.
In addition to all this, India will get an extra spin-bowling option if they pick Sundar, meaning they can leave out Ashwin and still play four seamers and two spinners.
India should probably take a leaf out of Sri Lanka’s book and try and do with Sundar what the Lankans have done with Kamindu Mendis.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
