It looks like the competition for the opener’s spot in India’s T20I setup is heating up after India’s successful series against Zimbabwe. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli out of the way in the shortest format, a beeline of young talents are queuing up to fill in the role of the side’s opener.
While Yashasvi Jaiswal has cemented his place as the side’s first-choice opener, the spot for the second opener is an open battle between two young stars – namely Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma.
Who will be India’s openers for T20Is?
All three stars – Gill, Jaiswal and Sharma – have tasted success in the ongoing series against Zimbabwe, making their case strong for being the side’s openers in the shortest format. While Gill has two consecutive fifties to his name as he leads the side against ZIM, Abhishek Sharma has a century to his name, carrying on his fine form from IPL 2024.
Jaiswal, on the other hand, stormed back to form with a 93-run knock against Zimbabwe in the 4th T20I in Harare. This makes the job even more tougher for the selectors who will meet next week to pick the squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
Gill, India’s stand-in captain for the ZIM series, has 157 runs to his name from four games with a highest score of 66 so far. On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal has 129 runs to his name from just two games, with the southpaw scoring a match-winning 93-run knock in the 4th T20I. It is pertinent to note that Jaiswal was also a part of India’s T20 World Cup winning squad but was left to warm the bench throughout the marquee tournament despite being showing promising signs of being India’s first choice opener way before the marquee tournament.
Abhishek Sharma reaped the reward for his stellar performance in IPL 2024 by earning a maiden India call-up for the ZIM series. After a failure in his very first outing, he went on to score a century in his 2nd T20I. He has so far accumulated 110 runs to his name in the series against Zimbabwe.
Two spots, three names in fray
With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from the shortest format of the game, the spots for the team’s openers has been thown wide open. While Gill and Jaiswal are likely to be the obvious choice, given their success in the international circuit in the past, Sharma has also put himself forward as a frontrunner for the position.
With India set to take a new shape under coach Gautam Gambhir, one can expect the unexpected and see Sharma earn a call-up while the India batting order might witness a shake-up. Gautam Gambhir will meet with chief selector Ajit Agarkar next week to pick the squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
With one game left to go against ZIM, all three openers will hope to impress the selectors and coach in hopes to cement their position as India’s new openers in the shortest format of the game.
