Is India in need of a new opener in tests??

Droping Gambhir will give the right signals to other players who take their place for granted. Neither is he scoring runs nor consuming deliveries. His habit of flashing outside the off stump is baffling to say the least. But the dilemma for selector will be who to replace him with ?? Rahane flopped in practice matches, jaffer seems too old for these tough battles. Utthapa has moulded himself into a t20 player. Dhoni is not the one to take bold decisions. Any other captain will surely drop him for next match. What is the big deal in that ? No one can perform worse than what Gambhir is doing now. Hopefully he will come back a stronger player after the drop.

Gambhir has really been struggling of late and it has been a really long time since I remember him making a real contribution..Gambhur has a pretty good technique and dont think the problem lies there, but off late I have noticed that he pokes a lillte too much outside the off stumo to deliveries that can well be left alone.. This probbaly will not land him in trouble in ODI's where there are no lsips usually and tests in Idnia, but in places where there is an extra movement or bounce as in Australia you can see those tentative pokes leading to easy catches in the slips.. It is time Gambhir realises to play within himself and get back to basics. This is not T20 or ODI where he needs to score quickly and play such deliveries.. He should first try to survive and bat as long as possible and runs will automatically ocme when his conifence grows.. Just hope that Gambhir get backs to form as we really need a solid opening partnership to salavge somthing in this test series. If his poor form continues , it wont be long before the selectors look at Rahane..

I still have a very high opinion of Gambhir as a opener. I think he needs to go back to his basics and work on it. Since his return from injury he tends to flash a lot outside the off stump. That has been instrumental in his getting caught in the slips. Cheers! Ram

Show me a superb performance of Sehwag in recent times in tests. The story is that both the openers have failed. We have hyped them a lot and ignored some good openers. Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund should have got chance to play test at least in India. They will get chances only when these openers get injured. Then these players should pray that these openers get injured. Selectors should first look at present form rather then their past reputations. Selectors never change their style of selection. Gambhir is awfully out of form and he is having some technical issue which coach of India team is not noticing. Selectors should keep interest for players like Abhinav Mukund and other young players. Mukund fate was decided with just one series and that too 2 test matches. In this way we cannot expect much from young players to do better in series which take place in Australia or England or Australia. Nothing will change, hope that Gambhir form will change..

I agree with you, the selectors have to look beyond Gambhir for the opening slot in test matches. His technique may just not be good enough to face the fast swinging deliveries on fast tracks. i think we have to look for some young talented players good enough to deliver not only in Indian conditions but also in the conditions similar to that of Australia. Ajinkya Rahane is certainly one of them. He has proved that in English conditions. We should give sufficient opportunities for such young players to get themselves developed and not shunt them out with just one or two failures.

I think Gambhir is troubling to find his form after continuous injury in last year. It is better to give try new opener with Sehwag, as there are many promising players.

INDIA has no other options than Gambhir so they are putting bet on him. May Gambhir has been floped in test for a long time but can you tell who suceeded well in his place? No one so selector choose him as he is having more experience and he can come back to form anytime and deliver his performance. Even if new batsman replaces gambhir there will be no changes in team INDIA. 214 for 3 to all out in at just 279. Everyone is failing then why to blame to Gambhir only. You can see the record of the test matches where Gmabhir has falled no one had suceed so it better for him to play there.

Ghambhir is a world class opener and we saw him and know him about his talent. Its just a matter of time for him to comeback and perform well. Its a bad patch is going one for him and soon he will recover him. Team India can change his position as he can bat at number 4 and Dravid can open with Shewag. I think Sachin should be the other choice for opening batsmen as he is having good time in batting.