On the eve of the second game of the 5-match series against England, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli confirmed that India will stick with the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. The opening pair did more than a decent job in the first Test in Nottingham. Despite the match ending in a draw, there were a few positives and the opening partnership was one of them. In the past few series, Team India’sopeners were failing to provide the much-needed opening stand.
However, Rahul and Rohit, who opened together for the first time in Test cricket in Nottingham and they managed to stitch a brilliant partnership of 97 runs to set up India’s first innings with the bat in this long five-match Test series.
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Despite their fantastic partnership, there were some rumors regarding whether Mayank Agarwal, who was the preferred choice for India ahead of the first Test, ahead of Rahul, might be recalled. However, Virat Kohli explained that the team management is comfortable with the Rohit-Rahul continuing as the two openers for India.
During the pre-match press conference, Virat Kohli said, “Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul played really well in the first Test match. We are comfortable with how we are placed. We do not feel that we are Batsman short.”
Unfortunately, Mayank had suffered a concussion a couple of days before the first Test. This gave a chance to Rahul as an opener, who had not played a single Test since August 2019. Despite his long absence from the longest red-ball game, Rahul seemed proactive and managed to put together a brilliant inning which in some ways saved India from a lot of trouble.
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Rahul scored 84 runs from 214 balls, while he also made a quick 26 runs in the second innings. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, got 36 runs in the first innings while he was unbeaten on 12 in the second innings. In the 2019 World Cup in England, Rohit and Rahul had a few brilliant opening partnerships when Rahul replaced an injured Shikhar Dhawan midway through the tournament.
