India vs England: Sunil Gavaskar Wants Two Indian Players To Compete For Opening Slot In Test Team

Sunil Gavaskar feels that the Indian team management should try pairing Mayank and Gill in practice matches before fielding either Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill along with Rohit Sharma as the opener in international matches. 

સુનીલ ગાવસ્કર આ વાતને લઈને ખૂબ જ નારાજ થઈ ગયા છે. ગાવસ્કરે સ્પષ્ટ કર્યું કે, જ્યારે ટીમના ખેલાડી અને કેપ્ટની પસંદથી જ કોચની પસંદગી કરવાની છે તો પછી સલાહકાર સમિતિનું કામ શું છે. સીધા જ વેસ્ટઇન્ડીઝમાં હાજર ખેલાડીઓ અને કેપ્ટન કોહલીને પૂછી લો કે તેઓ કોને કોચ બનાવવા માગે છે. તેનાથી ઘણાં લોકોનો સમય પણ બચી જશે.

After losing the World Test Championship title against New Zealand, team India has completely shifted its focus on the upcoming five-match Test series against England.  India's last three tours of England have made it clear that its batsmen struggle a lot while playing against the duke ball.

Team India last won a Test series in England in 2007 under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid, but then lost 0-4, 1-3, 1-4 in 2011, 2014 and 2018 respectively. There's a need for consistent effort to turn things around this time and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels it can be started by altering India's opening combination.

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Gavaskar feels that the Indian team management should try pairing Mayank and Gill in practice matches before fielding either Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill along with Rohit Sharma as the opener in international matches. 

"Mayank Agarwal has done a really good job for India, twice he's scored a double century opening the innings. It’s a good thing that the BCCI and Jay Shah have taken the initiative to conduct some warm-up matches before the England Tests so there you can decide who between Gill and Agarwal can open for India," Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

India have been playing with Rohit and Gill since the Test series against Australia at the end of last year.  But for 21-year-old Gill, technical mistakes are proving to be an issue for him. Gavaskar believes that making Gill and Mayank open together will reveal whose technique is better.

"Make them open the innings together because Rohit Sharma is a certainly and he can be rested for a game. That would give you an idea who has the better technique for English conditions. And then based on that, they can make a decision whether they want to play Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill."