Rahul Dravid versus Cheteshwar Pujara: An opener for crises

Rahul Dravid made 81 and 68 to seal Indias first series win in the West Indies.

In June 2006,on a Sabina Park wicket with treacherous up-and-down bounce,Rahul Dravid made 81 and 68 to seal Indias first series win in the West Indies since 1971. Cheteshwar Pujaras twin half-centuries at the Ferozeshah Kotla belonged in the same bracket in terms of his mastery in difficult batting conditions,but were vastly different in tempo. Over his last few innings,Pujara is showing himself to be an entirely different kind of batsman to Indias previous number three.

But Pujaras knocks were Dravidesque in another way. Just as Dravid did on 23 occasions in his career,Pujara was opening the innings as a stop-gap measure. Dravid,though he enjoyed a degree of success at the top of the order later in his career,was always a reluctant opener. Pujara,for now,appears to have no issues with being asked to go in at 0/0.

It shouldnt be seen as a long-term measure,though. Usually,Dravid opened the innings when one of the regulars was suffering either injury or terrible form,or when the team management wanted to shoehorn an extra middle-order batsman into the side. It wasnt ideal,it often unbalanced the team in other ways,and took Dravid away from his best position,but it wasnt the worst contingency plan.

With the Australia series wrapped up,India,till November 2014,will play all their Tests away from home,including trips to South Africa,New Zealand and England. It was perhaps with this in mind that the team management promoted Pujara to open in Shikhar Dhawans absence rather than use Ajinkya Rahane there. The Mumbai batsman,after all,is more accustomed to the position.

Were one of the regular openers to get injured or endure a poor run in South Africa,India might be forced to play their old card of pushing their number three up the order. And with many predicting that Virender Sehwags Test future if he has one might be in the middle order,such a situation might pave way for his comeback.

If that were to happen,Sehwags career will have come full circle. On November 3,2001,Sehwag scored 105 on his Test debut at Bloemfontein,batting at number six. A look at the scoreboard will reveal that a certain RS Dravid opened Indias batting.Karthik is a senior correspondent based in New Delhi.