Five candidates for the opening slot in Australia alongside Murali Vijay

The opening partnership, over the last 3 years, has been a big concern for India while playing away from home. Since the Lords Test against England in 2011, India have been able to put up only one 50+ partnership from 16 Tests: a 63-run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund which came in that very same game. Its no surprise, then, that the Indian middle-order has struggled to rack up big runs on the board in recent times, with them being brutally exposed to the newish ball time and again.Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, etc. have all been given opportunities at the top of the order, but all of them have failed to come up with the goods. The only one who has had some kind of success is Murali Vijay, and the fact that his overseas average, in the last 3 years, of 33.22 is being viewed as relatively successful gives us a fair indication of the sorry state of affairs of Indias opening batsmen.With Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir being appallingly poor in the recent Test series against England, the Indian selectors will have to look at other options ahead of Indias tour of Australia later this year.Here are 5 candidates to partner Murali Vijay in Test cricket going forward: (NOTE: The list isnt in any particular order)

#1 KL Rahul

One of a number of promising young talents from Karnataka, KL Rahul played a prominent role in his state winning the Ranji Trophy last season as he scored 1033 runs in 10 matches at an average of 68.86. He had been earmarked for higher honours ever since he played for India in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and on the back of the fruitful season he has enjoyed with Karnataka, he is surely not too far away from an India Test call-up. What Rahul will have to do now, for that to be the case, is back up his good season by starting the next season as impressively, and if he can do so, inclusion in the India squad touring Australia for a 4-Test series in December beckons.