Waiting for Godot?

When will the woes concerning the opening batting in Indian cricket end? Every now and then comes a batsman who displays all the qualities required for a good opening bat - courage, technique, temperament, skill - and the Indian cricket fan heaves a sigh of relief believing that the crisis is past. But then sooner rather than later, the same player comes a cropper, goes through a string of failures, is dropped and the search starts all over again.

Indian cricket has been beset with many a perennial problem - the lack of medium-pacers, sub-standard fielding, question marks over who is going to be the next wicketkeeper, an abysmal record overseas etc. But there is little doubt that the most vexatious problem has been the one posed at the top of the batting order.

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It would be tempting to trace the lack of a properly equipped opening batsman to the retirement of Sunil Gavaskar, 15 years ago. In 106 Tests since the peerless technician called it a day, Indian opening pairs have registered just 13 three-figure stands.

The long-standing problem is perhaps fitting, keeping in mind the supreme irony of Indian cricket. The best start ever in Test cricket stands in the names of two Indians - Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy and their famous 413-run partnership against New Zealand at Madras that is yet to be broken, 46 years and some 1200 Test matches later. And the worst-ever start in Test cricket also stands in the name of India who lost their first four wickets without a run on the board against England at Leeds in 1952.

While Gavaskar formed successful opening partnerships with Chetan Chauhan and Anshuman Gaekwad, he and Krish Srikkanth, in their own diverse ways, proved to be an unexpectedly durable pair. When Gavaskar called it a day, Srikkanth suddenly found himself the senior player while pairing with Arun Lal.

Not long after they came together, however, Srikkanth's fabled eyesight and reflexes began to fade, symbolised by his falling average which stood at 33.88 in 1989 but fell to 29.88 by the time he played his last Test three years later. Arun Lal, despite displaying courage and determination, never really inspired confidence against top-class fast bowling as illustrated by his career average of 26.03, and by 1990 it was obvious that he had played his last Test.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, by his deeds in the West Indies in 1989, and Ravi Shastri, no stranger to the opening slot, then seemed to be the best bet for a durable opening pair. But though they did well individually they never really got going as a pair despite many opportunities.

Shastri's obdurate qualities saw him get a double century against Australia in 1991-92 but a year later his career was over. As a pure stopgap measure, Manoj Prabhakar was pushed to the opening slot. The latter's tenacious qualities and fighting spirit saw him make a fairly successful job of it. He was good enough to take a Test century off the West Indian pace attack at Mohali in 1994-95.

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Prabhakar and Sidhu formed an unexpectedly successful pair. They had a stand of 109 against England in 1992-93 and also shared successive partnerships of 171 and 86 against Sri Lanka, the next season. Besides, Prabhakar also figured in century opening stands with Woorkheri Raman against New Zealand in 1990 and with Ajay Jadeja against the same opponents five years later.

Just as Indian cricket seemed to have acquired a reliable opening pair after a long time, the problems started all over again. By 1996, Prabhakar's career had come to a sudden end following an indifferent World Cup. Then in England later that year, came Sidhu's sensational decision to return midway through the tour and without playing a single Test following serious differences with the captain Azharuddin.

The double blow re-opened the question mark over the opening slot and created havoc. Numerous combinations were tried out in quick succession - sometimes there were two different pairs in the same Test - but nothing seemed to work. In desperation, Rahul Dravid was pushed to open the innings and even wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia was tried out.

Others who donned the role of opening batsmen, though not very successfully, during this period included Sanjay Manjrekar, Jadeja, Raman, Vikram Rathore and Venkatsai Laxman. But every combination proved to be a sitting duck for the opposition.

The return of Sidhu for the tour of West Indies in 1997 solved the problem partly in that he again showed why he was the best opening batsman in the post-Gavaskar period. But the search for a reliable opener who could partner him still continued.

Mongia figured in a couple of century opening partnerships with him during the 1997-98 season but this was a move designed to push an extra batsman into the team; it was never really a satisfactory or long-term arrangement. Sidhu and Laxman too shared a 191-run partnership against Australia the same season but even at this time it was clear that Laxman was happier down the order.

As Sidhu played his last Test in 1999 after figuring in five century opening stands with three different partners, a tall left-hander from Chennai, Sadagoppan Ramesh was presented as the next big hope. Again, Ramesh seemed to have the qualities needed to succeed at this specialised position even though he attracted much adverse comment, with the purists faulting his footwork and technique.

That did not stop Ramesh from figuring in five three-figure opening stands with three different partners over the next three years. Late last year, however, questions were raised about his temperament and with his state association not backing him, he fell out of favour with the national selection committee. In the meantime, Laxman had taken his rightful place in the middleorder.

All too briefly, Bengal's Devang Gandhi flickered on the horizon. He figured in two successive century opening partnerships with Ramesh against New Zealand in 1999-2000 but proved to be easy meat for McGrath and company in Australia later that season.

With Mongia not being considered, there occurred the most desperate action of fielding MSK Prasad as an opening batsman in Australia. Prasad vs McGrath was potentially one of the most lopsided individual contests in world cricket and not unexpectedly, the tall Australian spearhead dismissed the Indian wicketkeeper twice for single digits in the third Test.

In the new millennium, the search commenced all over again. The discovery this time was Mumbai's technically-correct Wasim Jaffer who had a tough baptism against Donald, Pollock and Hayward. And astonishingly, the experiment with a reluctant Dravid continued with little success.

At the start of the 2000-2001 season, the selectors then turned to Shiv Sundar Das. The diminutive batsman from Orissa at last seemed to be the answer to our prayers. He seemed to have all the qualities required to succeed at the job and in quick succession figured in two three-figure partnerships with Ramesh.

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Even as Ramesh fell out of favour, Das continued to prosper and was in the process of challenging Sidhu as the country's finest opening batsman in the post-Gavaskar era when he suddenly looked out of sorts in the just concluded series against the West Indies. This was a pity, for a recalled Jaffer seemed to have tightened up his technique and had a fairly successful outing in the Caribbean.

Too much should not be read into the brief experiment with Deep Dasgupta despite the Bengal wicketkeeper getting a Test hundred and figuring in a century partnership with Das. The need of the hour is two specialised opening batsmen and unfortunately the search still continues. Will the England tour provide an answer at last?