Shubman Gill or Mayank Agarwal: Who should be India’s second Test opener in England?

Should Shubman Gill start alongside Rohit Sharma in England? A tricky question awaits India as they embark on the England tour that has the WTC final and the Test series against England.

Since being promoted up to open the batting, Rohit Sharma has been a Test batsman rejuvenated for India at the highest level. Rohit has relished the vote of confidence from the management and a consistent run in the XI.

The high-class right-hand batsman has made 1,030 Test runs from 11 Tests at an average of 64.37 since October 2019, when he was first made to open the innings for India.

Rohit was a quiet but crucial contributor in the latter half of India’s historic Test series win in Australia and pivotal to the team’s home series victory over England in February-March.

Doubts may still linger over Rohit’s technical acumen for English conditions, but he deserves to start off in UK as India’s first-choice opening batsman.

However, there isn’t as much clarity on who will be Rohit’s partner at the top of the order. Would India retain young Shubman Gill despite his disappointing performances post the tour of Australia or they would go back to the resilient Mayank Agarwal for the challenging tour of England?

Also Read: This Does Seem Like The End Of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s Test Career

Shubman Gill or Mayank Agarwal: Who should be India’s second Test opener in England?

Gill made as good a beginning to his Test career as one could’ve hoped for on foreign shores, playing a couple of tremendous knocks Down Under. The prodigiously talented right-hand batsman finished the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 259 runs from his six innings at an average of 51.80.

But after batting incredibly well in difficult circumstances in Australia, a few chinks in Gill’s armour stood exposed versus England at home. Although Gill seemed to have corrected an issue with his stance and was no longer standing too much leg side of the ball, he had too high a backlift which didn’t allow him to counter the inswingers from James Anderson & co.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, a huge admirer of Gill’s talent and potential, said he does need to be a lot more proactive at the crease and can’t have such a lazy downswing to his willow. Gill ended the England series with just 119 runs from his 7 innings at an average of 19.83, which left a question mark on his place going into the England summer and reopened a door for Mayank Agarwal.

Mayank has had a journey of his own, as he started India’s World Test Championship campaign with a bang but ended the tournament’s league round in a miserable fashion. Mayank dominated the home series against South Africa and Bangladesh and batted reasonably well on away tours to West Indies and New Zealand either side of it.

From his debut back in December 2018 to March 2020, Mayank showed he can overcome some of his technical issues with a strong temperament and confidence at the crease, picking the scoring balls very well and realising which ones to leave.

But come his second tour of Australia, Mayank’s problems resurfaced beyond immediate repair as he failed to counter the pace and seam movement on Australian tracks. Mayank returned Down Under with a strangely wider gap between his front and back leg at the crease and also had an exaggerated backlift, higher than when he first started playing Tests for India.

These issues left him vulnerable to the short ball and also the ones threatening to come into him or going across. Not properly balanced at the crease, Mayank was pinned LBW by the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins and was left out of the playing XI for the final two Tests in Australia. He then warmed the benches for the entire home series versus England.

Thus, the answer to who should open alongside Rohit, will be determined by the team management via a study around Gill and Mayank’s problems. Captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri will retain Gill if they think his issues will be resolved by the time he arrives in UK or will go back to Mayank in case they think he will once again manage around his technical failings.

Much will depend on how the two players shape up in the nets once the team reaches England. But from the outside, it does seem Gill’s issues are significantly less problematic than the ones that Mayank has faced since Australia. And it would be wise to just back the young talent and give him a long rope in the side at a time when he can do with the kind of vote of confidence Rohit received last year.