Gautam Gambhir gives his opinion on who might have to miss their first test series against England

Gautam Gambhir, the former opening batsman for the Indian cricket team, recently gave his statement on the prowess of the current members in the Test matches. He reportedly said that batsman Mayank Agarwal would have to wait to play as an opener in the upcoming test series, facing England.

According to the experienced player, Agarwal did not have the best start when he played in the previously held Australia tour. Thus, it is more likely that he would have to wait to get into the team’s important spots in the batting order in the upcoming four-match Test series against England.

This series is set to commence in Chennai this Friday.

During the previous home season of India, Agarwal scored around 597 runs in total over 5 Test series matches. According to records, he had two double centuries under his belt during this period and had an average run rate of 99.50.

Yet, in the most recent Test series that India played against Australia, the cricketer was not at his best form. In the beginning, during the two-Test Down Under, he performed in an unsatisfactory manner. After the series of failures, he lost his opening spot in the tour.

Referencing his performance in the last test series, Gambhir gave his opinion that Agarwal would need to wait for getting an opening spot again. Since Shubman Gill performed well recently, he would take the opening spot instead.

The cricketer further stated that this was to be expected, given how Agarwal performed. In any sport, the ones who deliver the best get ahead, and such changes in playing order are only natural. Gambhir explained that a player’s performance determines which spot they would play in.

So, at the moment, Mayank Agarwal has to lose out on opening the next series. But, he has a chance for a comeback; for that, he has to ‘wait for (his) turn’, Gambhir further added.

According to the ex-opener, Agarwal has a good track record in playing international cricket and national matches as well. He has earned many runs over his career in the professional team, and would likely get a chance again.

During the same Australia tour, Shubman Gill, who was playing alongside Agarwal, performed in a much better way. Thus, he would most likely get to play among the top spots in the next playing order instead of Agarwal.

Gambhir further mentioned that the team management would still keep the right-handed opening batsman within the squad. They would not completely overlook and would give him a second chance soon enough.

According to recent reports, 29-year-old Agarwal is ranked as the second-highest Indian run-scorer in the current World Test Championship. He scored a grand total of 848 runs over 19 test matches. The first position for this among the Indian cricket team goes to the vice-caption, Ajinkya Rahana. He scored a total of 959 runs in this championship. As for the third spot, the captain of the team, Virat Kohli holds that rank, with a total run score of 705.