Rahul set to open alongside Abhimanyu as India contemplate Perth combination

KL Rahul is set to open alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran in India A's upcoming second unofficial Test against Australia A in Melbourne. The absence of Rohit Sharma for the beginning of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has put the spotlight on Rahul and Easwaran, who are competing for the role of Yashasvi Jaiswal's opening partner in the first Test in Perth on November 22. This match will be crucial in determining who will secure the spot in the upcoming prestigious series.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Rahul and Dhruv Jurel, who departed for Australia before the rest of the Test squad to gain game-time playing for India A, will both feature in the Melbourne four-day game. With Rahul partnering Abhimanyu at the top, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who opened in the first unofficial Test in Mackay, is set to drop down into the middle order, with Jurel taking the wicketkeeping gloves from Ishan Kishan.

Related

Rahul, Jurel to leave early for Australia and play second A game

Rohit: 'More comfortable' with match simulation than practice match

Abhimanyu, Harshit Rana, Reddy picked for India's tour of Australia

Rohit Sharma in doubt for India's first Test against Australia in Perth

India captain Rohit's participation in the early part of the Australia tour is in doubt for personal reasons. There is still some uncertainty around this, and on Sunday, at the end of the 3-0 home-series defeat to New Zealand, he said he "wasn't too sure if I'll be going to [Perth]".

If Rohit is unavailable, India's team management will have an interesting choice to make at the top of the order. Abhimanyu was called up to the Test squad for the Australia tour as the designated third opener, and at the time of selection had scored centuries in each of his four most recent first-class games. In all first-class cricket, Abhimanyu has 27 centuries in 100 matches, and averages 49.40.

Rahul, meanwhile, was originally a candidate for the middle order. Since the 2023-24 South Africa tour, Rahul has batted exclusively in the middle order in Test cricket, scoring 339 runs in 10 innings at an average of 37.66 - higher than his career figure of 33.87 over 53 Tests - including a century at Centurion and two fifties.

Rahul, however, has plenty of experience of facing the new ball overseas, and is one of only two Asian openers to have scored Test centuries in England, South Africa and Australia. Those high points, however, have come against the backdrop of a less-than-spectacular overall record as opener: 2551 runs in 75 innings at 34.94.

Dhruv Jurel could put pressure on Sarfaraz Khan if he scores runs in the second unofficial Test

•

AFP/Getty Images

If Rahul does return to the top of the order, it will be something of a reprise of the 2021 England tour, which he began having stated his intention to bat in the middle order. Injuries to Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal, however, created a vacancy at the top, which Rahul filled on the course of a successful tour that included a century in a memorable win at Lord's.

By the start of the 2024-25 home season, Rahul's career had gone through several further twists, and he was now established as India's first-choice No. 6. He was left out of the first XI after the first Test against New Zealand, however, with Sarfaraz Khan - who had replaced the injured Gill in India's XI - moving above him in the pecking order with a second-innings 150. Five visits to the crease during India's home season brought Rahul scores of 16, 22*, 68, 0 and 12.

Sarfaraz, for his part, does not start the Australia tour as a certainty in the XI. After that 150, he failed to get past 19 in four innings against New Zealand, and has never previously played Test cricket outside India. Given the pacy, bouncy conditions expected in Perth, India may yet be undecided on whether to pick Sarfaraz at No. 6, or play Rahul there - in which case Abhimanyu opens if Rohit is absent - or, in a left-field move, pick both Jurel and Rishabh Pant and play one of them as a specialist batter.

With Pant unavailable while recovering from knee injuries sustained in his December 2022 car crash, Jurel made his Test debut in the home series against England earlier this year, and impressed both behind and in front of the stumps. He scored 190 runs in four innings at an average of 63.33, and his innings of 90 and 39* in a tense victory in the fourth Test in Ranchi won him the Player-of-the-Match award.

Jurel has not played any Tests since Pant's return, but has cemented his spot as India's reserve keeper and an exciting future prospect.

Given all the possible permutations in Perth, the selectors and team management will likely pay as much attention to Jurel's displays in Melbourne with both bat and gloves as they do to those of Rahul and Abhimanyu against the new ball.