India should have come with three openers: Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar criticised India's selectors for not picking a reserve opener for the ongoing England tour.



The elbow injury to regular opener Gautam Gambhir has pushed Rahul Dravid to partner newcomer Abhinav Mukund at the top in the second Test that began here yesterday.

Dravid and Mukund opened during India's second innings at Lord's after Gambhir was injured while fielding. The left-hander later came out to bat.

Gavaskar said India should have come with three openers to meet any such eventuality. "I can understand if there are only two openers when the team travels to Sri Lanka. There any other batsmen can be asked to open.

"But when you are playing in England, Australia, South Africa where the ball does a bit, the squad should have three regular openers so that if one is injured, there are still two fit openers to do the job," he said.

"There is a huge difference in mindset when you walk out to bat alone (No 3) and when you come to bat with a partner," Gavaskar said about Dravid now shouldering the opening job while commentating for the match.