Stability at the top but for how long?

Sadagopan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das passed a minor landmark at Chennai the other day, gathering their first 100 partnership in six Tests. It marked the maiden century stand for the first wicket in the last 12 Tests and 23 innings for India, a very pronounced drought at the top of the order. Ever since the exit of Sunil Gavaskar and the consequent break up of the Gavaskar-Srikkanth association, Indian cricket has been poorly served by the men up front.

An ideal opening pair would be one that collects above 100 as often as they make below 10. In the 129 innings of the AG or After Gavaskar era, there have been 12 century stands, about one every 11 innings but this has been more than offset by 38 occasions when the partnership has been broken in single digits. Ramesh and Das have stuck around for six Tests in a row, an uncommonly good figure in a job where the turnover rate is quicker than the husbands of Elizabeth Taylor. Indeed the number of opening pairs who operated in more than six successive Tests for India can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali are `statistically and aesthetically yet to be surpassed' in the words of Sujit Mukherjee. Averaging a phenomenal 83.42 together in four Tests, the contrast in styles between the exuberance of Mushtaq and the serenity of Merchant was a blend, delightful in its execution. The Gavaskar-Srikkanth combination bore an uncanny reflection to this most distinguished of pairs, at least in aesthetics if not in statistics. They averaged only 43.2 but, to their credit, over a much longer span of 23 Tests. Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan were even more successful, opening together in 36 Tests, next only to the firm of Greenidge and Haynes, and averaging 53.75 including ten century stands. Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy averaged 57.86 in Tests, but that owed much to a their enduring world record stand of 413.

It would be jumping the gun to suggest that the present incumbents are here for the long haul. But they deserve a fair hearing to present their case; remember the old saw about there being no accumulation without speculation. In the AG era, India had a staggering 30 opening pairs in 129 innings, an absurd figure which added little value to the team's cause. Many of those were stopgap arrangements, unlike Ramesh and Das who are specialist openers, and have always been so, ever since their first class debuts. The most frequent pairing was Manoj Prabhakar and Navjot Sidhu who stood in nine consecutive Tests and ten in all, averaging a respectable 46.3 in partnership. The fact that India won nine of those could not have been entirely a coincidence; they were lucky enough that each one of them was on the subcontinent as indeed is the case with Ramesh and Das.

Remember a certain Devang Gandhi who briefly hovered on the horizon last season before migrating back to his favoured pasture of domestic cricket? But then he fell in between two stools, possessing neither the flair of Ramesh nor the level head of Das. Ramesh didn't look too comfortable in the two Tests he played in Australia. Since then, each time he has just about succeeded in keeping his place for the next Test, abetted by a scarcity of prolific openers in domestic cricket. He may not be as technically sound as Das but a judicious fusion of dash and stolidity is welcome at the top; that is why the two seem to complement each other well.

It would be presumptuous to suggest that Ramesh and Das will in time roll off the tongue as smoothly as some of the afore-mentioned pairs. Neither are great batsmen in their own right but again individual brilliance is not the premium quality one is looking for in an opener. A steady start that softens up the attack for the more accomplished men to follow will amply suffice. Indeed one of the most successful pairs in history, Rae and Stollmeyer played that role to perfection, paving the way for the three W's to massacre the bowling in due course. Given the caprices of the national selectors and that the next Test series against Zimbabwe falls in early June, more than two and a half months away, anything could happen in the interregnum. With a middle order comprising Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and a now rejuvenated Laxman, if the team decide to play an extra bowler, one of the openers might have to be sacrificed. Perils lurk.