AUS v IND 2018-19: Shaw and Mayank can be India's long-term opening pair, says Gautam Gambhir

Mayank has made a fine start to his career, while Shaw continues to recover from his ankle injury.

Mayank scored a fine half-century at the SCG | Getty

Explosive batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, Gautam Gambhir believes, can form India's long-term opening partnership across all conditions in Test match cricket. 

The former left-hander feels that Mayank, who has had a wonderful start to his career with scores of 76, 42 and 77 across his three innings in Australia so far, and Shaw, once he makes a return to the Test level having been sidelined with an ankle injury, together can be a real handful for the Virat Kohli led side at the top of the order. 

"One positive thing is that Mayank Agarwal has done really well. This is his first tour and second Test match. He has been very consistent, we should be happy on that front," Gambhir, who retired from the game recently, was quoted saying in an interview with timesnownews.com, "Look, opening is the toughest job in cricket, especially Test cricket. If it would have been easy, a lot of people who got so many runs would have opened the batting, which they never did in Test cricket. You have to be patient with him (Rahul)."

"Plus, now you have another opener in Prithvi Shaw who has settled in. Shaw is someone who has done reasonably well in the first series he played. Those two guys can take the burden of opening the innings in future for a very long time."

The admirable Gauti, who knows how difficult achieving success down under is, also lavished praise over Jasprit Bumrah and Cheteshwar Pujara for being the main difference between the two sides in this series. 

"He (Pujara) and Jasprit Bumrah are the difference between the two sides," Gambhir added, "From a batting point of view, Pujara is someone who has stood out. Bumrah has done the same in the bowling department. These two guys have stood out in the series that is why the result is what the results are."

The 37-year-old also congratulated India for retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and backed them to continue the dominance by clinching their maiden Test series triumph in Australia. 

"They have played brilliantly. Winning in Australia is something which has never happened. They are on the verge of creating history which the entire nation should be proud of," Gambhir said. 

"That is something which we have dreamt for such a long time and we haven’t been able to do it. We are now on the verge of doing it now and I think the boys have performed exceptionally well."

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 04 Jan, 2019

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