5 selection headaches for Virat Kohli before the 1st Test

Second opener:

Will the in-form batsman KL Rahul play ahead of Shikhar Dhawan?

The selectors have chosen three front-line openers for the series against West Indies. Murali Vijay has been India’s best test batsman in the past two years and is certain to open the innings for India in the test series.

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul will be competing for the second opener’s slot. Dhawan has been partnering Vijay for a while, but the southpaw from Delhi has been inconsistent in the longer format. Dhawan scored a fifty in the first warm-up match against WICB board president’s XI and failed to reach the double digits in the second match.

On the other hand, KL Rahul showed some promise by scoring two centuries in the five test matches he played in his career. Rahul scored heavily in the IPL and carried his form to Zimbabwe, where he became the first Indian batsman to score a 100 on his ODI debut. In the first two warm-up matches, Rahul scored 2 fifties and made his case stronger for selection.

It will be interesting to see who walks out with Vijay to open the India in the first test at Antigua. Will Virat Kohli give Dhawan one last chance in this series? Or will he go with the current form and ask Rahul to open?