India’s potent left-right punch
Dhawan and Rahane make the most of the chance of coming together
India’s left-right combination in Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane delivered another emphatic victory — by 169 runs — in a one-day international at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.
An injury to Rohit Sharma in the first one-dayer against England at Cardiff in August, had brought Dhawan and Rahane together at top of the order for the second time at Trent Bridge and thereafter they have not given a chance for the selectors to look at another opening combination.
The two had opened for the first time in the Asia Cup match against Afghanistan at Mirpur in last March, with Rohit Sharma at No. 3. Dhawan and Rahane have so far scored 693 runs in eight matches at 86.63. They hammered 231 for the first wicket against the Lankans at Cuttack. Their winning strike rate as openers stands at an impressive six matches.
India lucky
Dhawan — all set to touch the 50-ODI mark in the current series against Lanka — was probably right in saying that India is lucky to have opening-pair options as the ICC World Cup gets nearer.
“We are very fortunate that we three (Dhawan, Rahane and Rohit), who can give consistency, are there with the Indian team. It’s a very good sign for the team that our openers are scoring runs consistently.
“It’s very important to have a strong base whether batting first or chasing,” the marauding Delhi left-hander said after his team’s consummate win against the Angelo Mathews-led Sri Lanka.
Both the openers made the visitor pay a heavy price for letting them off early in their innings.
With Rohit scoring a superb century for India ‘A’ in the warm-up game against the Lankans at the Brabourne Stadium and thereby proving his fitness, the selectors would have a fair idea of what India’s batting order would be for the tri-series in Australia before the World Cup. Rohit is the senior most amongst the three (124 matches, 3479 runs at 35.87 and with 4 centuries and 23 fifties) and he maybe recalled for the last two ODIs against Lanka.
He has scored 1512 in 39 innings as an opener, 715 in 26 innings at no. 4 and 862 in 25 innings at no. 5.
Both Dhawan and Rahane have crossed the 1000-run mark in ODIs and have made the most of it, given the chance to open. In between, Rahane opened with Robin Uthappa and the latter, recalled after six years, made 50, 14 and 5 in the three-match series against Bangladesh in June. As of now, it seems only Dhawan, Rahane and Roht are in the picture, with Uthappa almost sure to be in the 30 probables for the World Cup.
“I (have) really enjoyed batting with both of them (Rahane and Rohit). Hopefully, they too enjoy batting with me. Both have their own styles. As far as my opening partner is concerned, it’s the team’s call and I can’t answer that. When myself and Rohit used to open, we used to do the same thing,” said Dhawan after the Cuttack match. Dhawan and Rohit have touched an exact 1500 runs as openers in 32 innings with six centuries and four half-centuries.
India has been blessed with left-right combination, more so after Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar dominated the new ball and aggregated 6610 in 136 innings.
This record may be hard to beat; it took some effort for the Indian pair to get the better of Australian openers Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist’s 5372 in 114 innings.
But if Dhawan sustains his form, India would probably run an opening pair for many years to come.
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