Openers make or break a successful team. When India was the No 1 Test team in the world under MS Dhoni, they had Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir as the openers. When Australia was on top in Test cricket, they had Mathew Hayden and Justin Langer as openers.
So, how it would be like to have a dream opening pair combination of past and current generation of cricketers?
Cricwizz brings a few such probable dream pair of openers from a few cricketing nations.
1) Mathew Hayden vs David Warner (Australia)
Hayden formed a great opening pair with Justin Langer and the two were part of many historic wins for Australia in Tests. Hayden was the dominating self, as he loves to take on bowlers and score runs at a brisk pace. Warner would be the perfect opening partner for Hayden in this dream opener pairs' list. Warner too loves to score runs at a fast pace, and get on top of the bowling. He has scored a ton before lunch on the first day in a Test match. Both Hayden and Warner would match each other strokes for strokes in a Test match.
2) Sunil Gavaskar and Shikhar Dhawan (India)
Gavaskar played the anchor opener in his heydays. His philosophy while opening the batting was simple. He used to wear out the bowlers with his dogged, and defensive approach to batting before scoring runs off them. In contrast, Shikhar Dhawan loves to score runs from the word go. While Gavaskar could hold one end up, Dhawan could go on scoring runs and keep the scorecard ticking. It would definitely make a good cricketing sight to see solid defence from a batsman with attacking approach from another.
3) Graeme Smith and Dean Elgar (South Africa)
Smith was one of the most prolific South African openers ever. He had a great temperament and was an accumulator. He had a penchant to score big tons and always led his team from the front. Elgar is similar to Smith and likes to accumulate his runs with his ones and twos. Both are stroke players though. But they do like to play the wait-and-watch game to pounce on loose deliveries.
4) Virender Sehwag and Prithvi Shaw (India)
Both the batsmen made centuries on Test debut. Sehwag was, however, moved to open the batting after starting out as a middle-order batsman. He went on to dominate the opposition bowlers with his attacking strokeplay and became one of the greatest Test openers ever, with two triple tons to his credit.
Prithvi is a young attacking batsman who showed his capability in his debut Test, scoring a ton against West Indies. However, since then, he has been hampered with injuries and suspension. But nevertheless, it would be a treat to watch the two openers dominate the opposition with his attacking gameplan.
Cover Credits: Sportszone
