Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes that Rohit Sharma should open for India in Tests too, adding that Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane should lend “stability to the middle order”.
“My suggestion would be to let Rohit carry on his good form from the World Cup and settle in the opener’s slot while Rahane continues his good work of lending stability to the middle order,” Sourav Ganguly wrote in a column published in Thursday’s Times of India newspaper.
India will play the first Test of the two-match series against the West Indies in Antigua, starting on Thursday.
Rohit, 32, has cemented his place at the top of the batting order in the Twenty20 and 50-over formats and finished with maximum number of runs in the World Cup in England recently.
He was dropped following a poor return in South Africa in early 2018 when he scored 78 runs in four innings. He played two Tests in Australia at the end of the year, missing one with injury and the other due to the birth of his child.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Hanuma Vihari opened in the Melbourne Test against Australia last year while Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane as seen as Rohit’s competition for a middle order berth.
“… the major decision is whether they want to play Rohit or Rahane,” Ganguly, who played 113 Tests, said.
“Rohit was in blistering form in the World Cup, but in Tests in South Africa and Australia, he was ‘on and off’. Rahane was not his usual self in Australia.
