There is no doubt that Rohit Sharma is one of the best openers in the world in limited-overs cricket, but in Test cricket he had shown his strength only in middle order so far, but South Africa On the very first day of the first Test match being played in Visakhapatnam against him, he proved that he is the best opener in the world. Be it limited-overs cricket or the longest format. Rohit Sharma, playing his first match as an opener, gave India a strong start by scoring a century. While he ducked in the opening match in the practice match against South Africa, he showed his strength in the first test itself. Before Rohit, however, there have been few such batsmen in world cricket, who succeeded on the top order from the middle. One of them is also former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag.
Virender Sehwag
India’s then captain Sourav Ganguly persuaded Virender Sehwag to come from the middle to the top to overcome India’s top order problem. Sehwag was also a middle-order batsman in domestic cricket, but he came on top order and soon settled there. Sehwag made his debut in Test cricket by scoring a century, but he impressed everyone by playing the best innings at Lord’s. After this, he scored a century in Nottingham and then 147 against the West Indies. He is also the first batsman in India to score a triple century. Sehwag played this historic inning in Multan in 2004. On middle order, Virender Sehwag scored 379 runs in 10 matches at an average of 37.9. He scored 8207 runs in 170 matches at an average of 50.04 on top order.
Simon Katich
made a test debut in 2001 by Simon Katich. He was a middle-order batsman but was dropped in 2005 due to poor performance. He also lost the national contract in 2007. After this, he also broke Michael Bevan’s record for the most runs in a single season, scoring 1506 runs for the domestic tournament New South Wales. This led to his return to the Australian team for the West Indies tour. Where he was asked to open. After this, he scored 2928 runs at an average of more than 50 as an opener. At the same time, his average on the middle order was only 36.
Simon Katich
made a test debut in 2001 by Simon Katich. He was a middle-order batsman but was dropped in 2005 due to poor performance. He also lost the national contract in 2007. After this, he also broke Michael Bevan’s record for the most runs in a single season, scoring 1506 runs for the domestic tournament New South Wales. This led to his return to the Australian team for the West Indies tour. Where he was asked to open. After this, he scored 2928 runs at an average of more than 50 as an opener. At the same time, his average on the middle order was only 36.
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka was initially thought to be a bowler who can bat as well. Jayasuriya first made his Sri Lankan innings debut against India in 1993 and he quickly became Sri Lanka’s star opener in ODIs. At the behest of captain Arjun Ranatunga, he landed in Test cricket with Roshan Mahanama, but he was able to score only 9 and one runs in a match.
He returned in 1996 and performed well after being out of the Sri Lankan team for almost a year. Jayasuriya (Sanath Jayasuriya) had scored an innings of 340 against India in 1997, on which Sri Lanka scored 952 runs in a single innings at the loss of six wickets. Jayasuriya finished his Test career as an opener at an average of 41.48.
Tillakaratne Dilshan
After spending a long time in international cricket, Tillakaratne Dilshan made his Sri Lankan innings debut against New Zealand in his 52nd Test match and scored 92 off 72 balls in the first innings. While scoring a century in the second innings.
On the top order, he scored six centuries that year and scored 1327 runs at an average of 64.52. He opened in 29 Test matches, scoring 2170 runs. His career average on the middle order was 36, while the average as an opener was 42.54.
