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Problem number one

11 years and 11 months ago, Sunil Gavaskar played his last innings for India, producing as fine a display of the art of Test match batting as you could hope to see. 11 years and 11 months later, the country is still in search of that elusive gem, the Test Match Opener.

Pretenders have come and gone since then, in all shapes and forms. Some, like Navjot Singh Sidhu, have hinted at making the role their own. Others, like Vikram Rathore, have discovered that facing Allan Donald and Glenn McGrath is not quite the same as taking on Shamsher Singh and Anshu Jain.

One by one, each of the thirteen different openers tried since Gavaskar retired has fallen by the wayside, be it at the whim of the selectors, or as a result of poor performances.

After all the gloom and doom however, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, in the form of the young Sadagopan Ramesh. It is early days yet, to be sure, but the left-hander is nevertheless the only man apart from Ravi Shastri who has looked to have what it takes to develop into a world class opening batsman.

Admirers of Sidhu may start at this, and they would be right in asserting that the Sardar has done a tremendous job for his country. Unfortunately, it is hard to escape the notion that he is but a flat track bully. With a flawed technique, and hesitant footwork, he has never looked likely in conditions where the ball has moved, or bounced, and has been found out repeatedly in that regard.

It could be argued that he looks equally unlikely in Indian conditions, but the difference has always been that under those conditions, he can get away with it. There are others in the Indian side who have relatively suspect techniques, and lack good footwork at times, notably both Azharuddin and Ganguly, but both have a superb eye for the ball, and God-given timing, something which Sidhu could never fall back on.

Back to Ramesh, and while the southpaw has produced three significant knocks out of four, and has become the fourth man in the Indian side with a Test average in excess of 50, there is a long way for him to go. One only has to observe that had the umpires been willing to raise their fingers on a couple of occasions, to adjudge him lbw to Waqar Younis, his career could be headed the way of his compatriot, WV Raman, with whom he has been likened in some quarters.

Fortuitous non-dismissals aside, Ramesh has produced displays of genuine quality, and that he has serious potential is beyond dispute. What has impressed above all else has been his temperament, all the more notable for him having made his debut in the cauldron of an India-Pakistan series. There is no greater pressure. He appears to have in him a remarkable blend of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, displaying a willingness to settle down for the long haul, and yet being positive and assertive throughout.

He can time and place the ball as well as any of his more illustrious colleagues, and I would be so bold as to venture the opinion that his offside strokeplay is on par with that of Saurav Ganguly. With each successive innings he has batted better, his footwork becoming increasingly decisive and precise, his shot selection improving, and his confidence rising further. All that is indicative of a willingness to assess his own batting, and work on any perceived flaws - a characteristic which will stand him in good stead in times to come.

All very promising then, until, that is, you bring the selectors into the equation. One hopes that Ramesh will be given a prolonged run as a Test opener, allowing him the chance to fail if he must, and giving him time to find his feet against different bowlers, on different pitches. However, should he have a poor tour of Australia later this year, this writer will not be at all surprised if his international career comes to a temporary halt. History suggests that Indian selectors are not tolerant of failure away from home when it comes to openers - perhaps because they are the easiest scapegoats.

Arun Lal's career came to an end after the West Indian tour of 1988-'89, and Srikkanth went back to domestic cricket after the Pakistan tour which followed it. It was Raman's turn to be dumped after the New Zealand tour of 1990, and the England tour which followed sent Navjot Sidhu back to the drawing board. Srikkanth and Sidhu both returned in Australia before the 1992 World Cup, and were both dropped immediately afterwards, the same fate which befell Jadeja and Raman (again) following the subsequent tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

India stayed at home for a while after that, and it can hardly be a co-incidence that this period was about the only time in the last twelve years when the same opening pair has represented the country in successive series. It was Jadeja and Rathore who went to England in 1996, but again, neither survived long enough to get a run of Tests at home. Raman and Rathore then went to South Africa, and neither has played for the country since. Jadeja, Laxman and Sidhu all opened in the West Indies in 1997, but only Sidhu survived to play in the run gluts against Sri Lanka which followed. And now, after the recent New Zealand tour, both openers have had to go back to ply their trade on the domestic circuit. If that's not an established trend, then nothing is, and one can but hope that Ramesh will escape this fate.

What may work in his favour is the distraction for the selectors of tinkering with the career of his current partner, VVS Laxman. The Hyderabadi has been thrust into the opening slot, and has never looked like he has belonged there. There's a simple reason for that too - he doesn't. Until this season, he wasn't even opening at any other level of cricket.

Perhaps more than anything, what an opener needs to know is the whereabouts of his off stump, for his entire game, particularly his footwork and shot selection, will be fundamentally based on this. Unfortunately, this is where Laxman has continually appeared to fall down. The end result has been indecisive footwork, and a tendency to find himself playing with bat away from the body. The number of times he has been dismissed bowled, or leg before, in Test cricket is further evidence of this failing.

The pity, I believe, is that India may well lose a very promising middle order batsman as a result of trying, and failing, to convert him into an opener. Laxman would perhaps be the ideal replacement for Azharuddin, when the latter finally calls it a day, and although that may mean a further couple of years in the international wilderness, it may be in the best interests of both Indian cricket, and of the player himself.

Follow that route though, and we're back to square one, with a gaping hole at the top of the order. There has been a lot of talk of Ganguly being promoted to open the innings, because it is felt he is wasted down at number six. Whilst there may be a case for moving him up the order - and here I would suggest that he simply swap places with the captain - there is little to indicate that he would be successful as an opener. Sure, he opens in ODIs, but they are a completely different game requiring a different approach, and there is no need to take chances with an established performer in the middle order.

Having said that, if the same top six must play in the immediate future, then I also have little doubt that the lesser of two evils would be to have Ganguly open the innings with Ramesh, and Laxman slot in at number six. Neither of them however is the long term solution.

What is needed is for the selectors to ink in Ramesh for the forseeable future - even at worst, he can be no worse than any of those who have been tried and abandoned - and then look for someone to partner him into the next century. I haven't seen all the contenders for the throne, making it hard for me to go out on a limb and name anyone.

It is imperative that the selectors actually watch young openers in action, rather than judging purely on the basis of scores (witness Ajay Jadeja's twin centuries last week). Having done that, they need to identify the one or two who have the class, the technique and the temperament to make it, and then stick with them. Groom them, give them chances against touring sides, and with any luck, by the end of the year India will have a settled opening pair to take the country to Australia, and beyond.

Well, one can live in hope.