India vs South Africa: How should Rohit Sharma be managed as a Test opener? Yuvraj Singh has a clear answer

Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh has supported the move of the Indian selectors to try out Rohit Sharma as an opener in Test cricket. The southpaw also believes that Rohit should have opened in the longest format right from the beginning of his career and now, expects the management to give him a long rope. “If you ask me, Rohit Sharma should have opened in Tests from the beginning of his career. You play him one match and then drop him and say Rohit Sharma is not scoring runs in Test cricket. How can you expect someone to perform without giving him 10 Test?,” Yuvraj told India Today.

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Citing the chances given to KL Rahul, Yuvraj said that Rohit should also be given enough chances to stake his claim in the new role and no hasty decisions should be made.

“Now if you are making Rohit Sharma open in Tests, you should give him 6 Tests and tell him Rohit, you have got 10-12 innings, go and play your game, nobody will say anything. You gave so many chances to KL Rahul, so whoever is your opener, give him those 6 Test matches so that he can go and express his game,” he added.

Although, the right-hander will walk out to open in the first Test match, he did not have an entirely auspicious start. He was dismissed for a duck in the practice match between India’s Board President’s XI and South Africa. The task will be cut out for him as South Africa have top quality fast-bowlers at their disposal and both Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander will certainly not make life easy for the right-hander when the first Test match commences in Visakhapatnam.