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Journalism of Courage
Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir will finally have the opportunity to fight for the opening slot without the shadow of Virender Sehwag looming large over them.
Earlier, during the absence of Sourav Ganguly from the one-day scheme of things, the Indian think-tank experimented with Uthappa, Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer and even skipper Rahul Dravid in the opening position, even as Sachin Tendulkar had expressed his desire to return to the top of the order. After a series of failures in those experiments, with the return of Ganguly and the axing of Sehwag, the scope of experimenting with the opening slot has now narrowed down to just Uthappa and Gambhir.
With Sehwag being axed from both forms of the game, Tendulkar shifted to the middle-order to provide solidity and Dravid once again taking up the number three slot that he has made rightfully his, Ganguly’s partner, in the coming tour, is likely to be one among the two.
A senior selector told The Indian Express that both Uthappa and Gambhir would be given equal opportunities during the four one-dayers in Ireland (one versus Ireland and three versus SA) to test the two batsmen. While Jaffer and Dinesh Kaarthick are undoubtedly expected to start in the Test series against England, the one-day department should make for some serious competition between the two batsmen from Karnataka and Delhi.
“If we play to our true potential we can have the right balance to fight England,”’ said Dravid, refusing to comment on individuals in the team. “It is a young team and they will help themselves by gaining some experience,” is all he said.
The 22-year-old Uthappa has an experience of playing in 10 One-Day Internationals while the 28-year-old Gambhir has taken part in 21. The duo in comparison to Sehwag, who has 175 One-Day Internationals to his credit, definitely lack in experience. However, Sehwag’s woeful form has left it to Utthappa and Gambhir to make use of an opportunity.
Sehwag was dropped for the home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka ahead of the World Cup, but made a comeback for the trip to the Caribbeans. Prior to that, the Delhi opener remained a part of India’s squad during the tour of the West Indies, the Champions Trophy, the DLF tri-series in Malaysia and the tour of South Africa. A series of unsuccessful attempts with the bat resulted in his ouster from the team. “We have talented youngsters and I hope they make the most of this tour,” is all that Dravid said.
