Ranking India's top 5 left-handed Test openers
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal made a fantastic Test debut for Team India during the opening encounter of the two-match series against West Indies in Dominica recently.
In his very first Test innings, he scored 171 off 387 balls, a knock laced with 16 fours and a six. He was the Player of the Match as India won the contest by an innings and 141 runs.
During the course of his memorable knock, the 21-year-old broke a number of records. His 171-run innings is the highest score by an Indian debutant away from home, beating Sourav Ganguly’s 131 against England at Lord’s in 1996.
Jaiswal also became the first Indian opener to notch a debut hundred away from home. Before him, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw had scored tons on Test debut in home conditions.
Being a southpaw, Jaiswal could form a good left-right combination with Rohit Sharma if he continues to impress.
In the wake of Jaiswal’s arrival on the Test scene, we ranking India's top five left-handed Test openers.
#5 WV Raman
Because India have had only a handful of left-handed openers in Test matches, WV Raman features at No. 5 despite having a mediocre record.
Raman played eight Tests for India as an opener, scoring 321 runs at an average of 24.69, with three half-centuries.
In 1990, he scored 96 against New Zealand in Christchurch and 72* in Auckland. However, he lacked consistency and played his last Test in 1997 during a stop-start career.
Overall, he played 11 Tests for India, batting in the middle order in a few games.
#4 Sadagoppan Ramesh
For a brief period between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sadagoppan Ramesh seemed like India’s answer to their opening woes.
He made 60 and 96 in his second Test, against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999. More impressive scores followed, including a hundred against Sri Lanka in Colombo and another against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Despite a technique, which was considered poor for the big stage due to lack of footwork, the southpaw played a number of good knocks. However, he was often guilty of throwing his wicket away after getting starts.
Ramesh ended his career with 19 Tests in which he scored 1367 at an average of 37.97.
#3 Nari Contractor
Former India captain Nari Contractor’s Test career was cut short in cruel fashion after he was struck on the skull by a bouncer from Charlie Griffith in a match against Barbados in 1962.
The injury he suffered was life-threatening, but Contractor, known as a fighter, defeated death to survive. The blow, however, ended his Test career.
He played 31 Tests, scoring 1611 runs at an average of 31.58, with one hundred and 11 fifties. Contractor's only Test ton came against a strong Australian side in Mumbai in 1960.
He scored in the 90s against West Indies and Pakistan in Delhi. At 26, he was India’s youngest Test captain at that time.
#2 Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan made a sensational Test debut, hammering 187 off 174 balls against Australia in Mohali in 2013, a knock studded with 33 fours and two sixes. His 85-ball ton is a record for the fastest Test hundred on debut. Unlike his ODI career, though, Dhawan’s Test career was not as impressive.
The veteran batter played 34 Tests for India, scoring 2315 runs at an average of 40.61, with seven hundreds and five fifties.
Dhawan had a fantastic Test series in Sri Lanka in 2017, where he scored 358 runs in four innings. However, he had a disastrous tour of England in 2018, registering a highest score of 44 from eight innings, effectively endings his Test career.
#1 Gautam Gambhir
In terms of numbers, Gautam Gambhir is India’s most successful left-handed Test opener. He played 57 Tests for India as an opener, scoring 4119 runs at an average of 42.90, with nine hundreds and 22 fifties.
Gambhir scored a double hundred against Australia in Delhi in 2008 and 179 against England in Mohali in the same year. One of his finest performances came when he batted for 643 minutes to score 137 in Napier in 2009 to help India save the Test match. The former India opener went on to score 167 in Auckland.
debut and happy to have helped the team with some runs!
Hard work pays off!
Great team performance to mark my 🇮🇳 debut and happy to have helped the team with some runs!
Thankful to everyone who’s contributed in my journey so far, but this is just the start 💪
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#WIvInd #TeamIndia #ITrustIBelieve https://t.co/KVwlhcmqgf
Following a prolonged lean patch, Gambhir lost his place in the Indian Test team in 2013. He made a comeback the next year but failed to reestablish his place in the team. Gambhir played his last Test in 2016 against England in Rajkot.