5 Indian openers in Test matches who disappeared after promising starts
Opening the batting is never an easy task in the game of cricket, irrespective of the formats. New balls, fresh pitch, and top bowlers make it an extremely tough battle for the batsmen who come in to bat at No.1 and No.2.
Though some started well, they failed to cope up with the continuous pressure and disappeared after some time. Only a selected few succeeded in the role and went on to become the legends of the game.
Indian cricket has produced quite a few talented and gifted opening batsmen. Players like Anshuman Gaekwad, Chetan Chauhan, Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Gautham Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, and Rohith Sharma scored a lot runs at the top for India in Tests and One Day Internationals.
On that note, let us take a look at the five Indian openers in Tests who disappeared from the international arena after promising starts.
#5 Abhinav Mukund
The 28-year-old Tamil Nadu opener made his debut for India in Test match when he was just 21. He was selected for the tour of West Indies where he played three Tests for India and scored 147 runs. He looked good but failed to make a big score.
He travelled to England then but struggled with the conditions. He managed 64 runs in two Tests and was dropped from the team. He disappeared for the next six years and was recalled in 2017 as a replacement for the injured Murali Vijay.
He played two Tests in 2017 and never got selected again. Mukund played most of his Tests away from home and was never allowed to settle in the team. Mukund has played seven Test matches for India so far and scored 325 runs.
With the emergence of Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul and Mayank Agrawal in the opening department, it looks highly unlikely that he will be called back into the Test team.