Australia's Struggle Point The Importance Of Rahul And Jaiswal For India During England Tour

Jaiswal, KL Rahul to learn from Australia? [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com/]

The world is currently focusing on the World Test Championship (WTC) final between Australia and South Africa but there is also another spicy contest which will begin in 9 days time - India Vs England. The 5-match Test series will begin on June 20 and the first Test match of the series will take place at Headingley, Leeds.

The two key players who can define the series

There is no Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli in the side to provide experience and the Indian team will play against England with an inexperienced squad led by the young Shubman Gill. Now, experts have already ruled out India as the potential series winner against England, however, there are two players whose performance could decide the outcome of the series - KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The duo are likely to open in the Test series against England the partnership up top will be the key for India's win. The duo will need to take inspiration from India's opening pair on their last tour of England, and interestingly, KL Rahul was a part of it. Also, they need to watch the ongoing WTC finale and learn from the mistakes made by the Aussies.

Australia's horror opening show in WTC finale a blueprint for India

In the ongoing WTC final, Australia were asked to bat first under overcast conditions and the opening pair of Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne failed to deliver the goods. While Khawaja departed for duck, the other batter could only score 17 runs. This put a pressure on the middle order as Cameron Green (4) and Travis Head (11) couldn't do much with the bat and the pressure was built on Steve Smith to perform.

(Aussie batters crumbled Vs SA)

This could happen with India if they are not careful and the opening pair of Jaiswal and KL Rahul need to watch this game as a case study. If the opening pair does well, it makes other's job easier and India will be one step ahead in terms of conquering England.

How KL, Jaiswal can take inspiration from 2021 opening pair

The last time India toured England was in 2021 and during that period, Rohit Sharma used to open with current opener, KL Rahul. Now, in England, negating the new ball is the key as the opener's job is not only to score runs but also to safeguard their wicket and lay a strong foundation.

97, 126, 18, 1, 34, 28, 83! These were the runs added by the opening pair of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma on that tour. In 7 innings the duo added 387 runs and it allowed the Dukes ball to get softer and also made batting easier for the middle order batters. Courtesy of their efforts, India had a 2-1 lead before the series was halted due to Covid-19.

If India are to do well again this time then the inspiration has to come from the last tour and from the previous opening pair.

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