Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra recently discussed the present Test opening partners and chose his top three Test opening pairs at present.
The 42-year-old Aakash Chopra feels that the present openers are not strong enough against the swing balls, while the past great opening partners showed their skills how to deal it.
In his recent YouTube video, Chopra first named the top five Test opening pairs ever with their averages and these players were Gambhir-Virender Sehwag (average 52.5), Matthew Hayden-Justin Langer (average 51.9), Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes (average 47.3), Alastair Cook-Andrew Strauss (average 40.9) and Graeme Smith-Herschelle Gibbs (average 56.3).
Then Chopra talked about the present Test openers. While he recently saw the English Test openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, the former Indian Test opener has felt ok with them but unsure about their long-term future.
Chopra also talked about the South African Test openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram. While both of them haven’t maintained the Test batting average over 30 in the last two years, their last two years’ Test partnership average is very unimpressive 12.5.
Aakash Chopra also talked about Warner-Burns, Latham-Blundel; and Rohit-Mayank
Chopra then focused on the Australian Test opening pair David Warner and Joe Burns. While their last two years’ opening partnership average is 65.4, Chopra is definitely impressed with this record. But while Warner hasn’t impressed in India and the challenging conditions yet and Burns hasn’t played a Test in India yet, the former Indian cricketer is not ready to consider them as the best Test opening pair at present.
Then Chopra praised the New Zealand Test openers, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell. While their last two years’ Test opening partnership average is 47.14, Chopra is impressed as they have come out with some great batting instances in their challenging home condition.
Chopra then named the new Indian Test opening pair Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal. While their last two years’ Test opening partnership average is 69.16, both of them have also managed to maintain their batting average over 50 as the Test batting openers. The former Indian opening batsman praised both of them but he feels that it is too early to call them as the best Test opening pair at present as this opening partners haven’t been tested outside India yet.
Aakash Chopra’s top three Test opening pairs
At the end of that discussion, Chopra selected Latham-Blundell as his best Test opening pair at present while he put Rohit-Mayank at close to them but in the second position. His third-best choice in this list is Warner-Burns, but Chopra isn’t totally convinced on their ability to bat in the challenging condition.