India's opening conundrum

Not for the first time, an Indian squad travelling to England boasts of an impeccable middle-order. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman - even if they aren't in top form - still constitute a fearful combination. Not for the first time, though, they'll be preceded by an opening combination that hardly inspires confidence. On the last five tours of England, India have almost always given away the early initiative, both with the bat and ball. The table below shows how wide the gulf has been between the two teams at the start of an innings.

In 1982, India had the considerable presence of Sunil Gavaskar at the top of the order, but partnering him was debutant Ghulam Parker, whose initiation to Test cricket turned out to be unmemorable. Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and Suru Nayak all tried their hand at opening, but the outcome was a highest stand of 21 in five innings, and an average stand of less than ten. England's pair of Geoff Cook and Chris Tavare did much better, notching up two partnerships of more than 95.

The presence of the unorthodox Krishnamachari Srikkanth eased matters in 1986, when he and Gavaskar went past 50 three times, and ended up with a respectable average of 37.50, but on their last three tours, the Indian openers have had little to cheer about, even as their England counterparts have relished India's new-ball attack.

Graham Gooch and Michael Atherton plundered runs at will against an insipid Indian attack in 1990, and while Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar made it a memorable summer for batting aficionados, India's openers, Shastri and Navjot Sidhu, struggled to put a partnership together. It got even worse in 1996, when India tried several options - Vikram Rathour, Ajay Jadeja, Sanjay Manjrekar and Nayan Mongia - but none of them inspired any confidence. England, on the other hand, had Atherton and Alec Stewart to get them past the new-ball threat posed by Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad. It wasn't different in 2002 either, when Dravid was invariably walking in to bat after the first wicket had fallen early.

In the last 25 years, Shastri (twice) and Virender Sehwag have been the only openers to score hundreds in England. On the other hand, Gooch, with four centuries, Michael Vaughan (three) and Atherton (two) are among several England openers who have had success against the Indians. Of the 14 Indians who opened during this period, only three - Shastri, Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar - average more than 30, while eight average less than 15.

In fact, the best days for Indian openers in England were during the 1930s and 40s, when Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali teamed up at the top of the order. They averaged 83.42 per partnership, with two century stands and three half-century ones in seven innings. Since then, the only pair which came close to matching them was Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan, who averaged 64.71 for the opening wicket in the 1979 series, with two century stands. The 213 they added in the fourth Test at The Oval during that memorable run-chase remains the last hundred partnership by an Indian opening pair in England. It will take a brave man to bet against that record standing for a few more years.