Akash Chopra hails Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma as the second-best Test opening pair in world cricket

Former Cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has put forward his opinion on the best Test opening pair in present-day scenarios. He also memorized the retired greats of the game. He hailed pairs of Test opening batsman which included stalwarts like Gambhir-Sehwag, Hayden-Langer who were best in every playing condition.

The former opening batsman has put forward a bundle of opinions on the recent opening pairs. He has shared his views on the performance of these players and to what extent they are being successful in the international arena where it is a different ball game altogether.

Akash Chopra raises concerns for openers unable to face the swing

He expressed his views on the modern-day openers by comparing them to previous stalwarts and said that the players today face it hard to face swing bowling.

“There was a time when we had very good opening partnerships in World cricket like Gautam Gambhir-Virender Sehwag, Matthew Hayden-Justin Langer, Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes, Alastair Cook-Andrew Strauss, and Graeme Smith-Herschelle Gibbs. But today’s openers are not able to deal with the swinging ball. The new ball is repeated attacking you and you have no answer. That is why we are looking at the opening pairs across the world,” he said.

He also put forward his views on the new England opening pair of Rory Burns and Dom Sibley by saying that their consistency would be the key in the future. “Recently we saw the new opening pair of Rory Burns and Dom Sibley. They seem okay to me, they are doing good currently but we don’t know long term,” he said.

Aakash Chopra also put some light on the recently formed Indian Test opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal. He said that they have done well in limited opportunities but the only factor which goes against them is that they haven’t opened together outside India.

“It is a new partnership and it is growing. They have done a good job in limited opportunities. They have an average of almost 70 together with Rohit averaging 73.6 and Mayank 57.3. These are fairly good numbers. But what goes against them is that they have not played together outside India,” he believed.

Chopra also explained the situation more by saying, “When we went to New Zealand, Mayank had Prithvi Shaw as the partner as Rohit was not there and before that Rohit was not being made to open. Mayank was fairly decent but we have not seen Rohit as an opener overseas.”

Chopra names his Top 3 Test opening pair

He has marked his top 3 opening pairs as New Zealand’s Tom Lathan and Tom Blundell at number one, Rohit Sharma, and Mayank Agarwal on number 2 and  David Warner and Joe Burns at number three.

“I am going with Tom Latham and Tom Blundell as the best opening pair in Test match scenario at this moment. At close second I will keep the Indian openers, Rohit and Mayank. I hope that when Rohit goes to Australia now, he will do well, he has got enough experience and not much to prove. The 14-day quarantine will work in everybody’s favour because you will befriend the conditions,” he said.

“At No.3, I will keep Warner and Burns because Warner I am still sceptical. I like the player but I am not 100 per cent convinced of him as a Test match opener in challenging conditions,” the cricketer turned commentator concluded.

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