KOLKATA, Sept 26: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to score 10,000 test runs, has been drafted in to search for a quality opening pair in the Indian team.

The 54-year-old Gavaskar, known for his technical brilliance at the top of the order, has been asked to help identify players who can end India’s opening woes.

“Sunil is now part of the process for getting a good opening pair for India,” Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told reporters on Friday.

“He is assisting us because he has tremendous experience as an opener for India. This is an ongoing process but the day is not far when we will again have very good players in the opening position.”

India have experimented with seven openers in the last two seasons but the batsmen have often struggled with the new ball, especially in foreign conditions.

Makeshift opener Virender Sehwag, who bats down the order for Delhi in domestic cricket, and Sanjay Bangar have filled the slot since the tour of England last year.

But the free-stroking Sehwag has said he wants to return to the middle-order and Bangar’s inability to score quickly weigh heavily against him ahead of an important tour of Australia starting in December.

“Finding the right openers is a point of concern with the public, media and board. Whatever the BCCI can do to end this problem, it will,” Dalmiya added.

The other contenders for the job are Shiv Sundar Das, Wasim Jaffer and Sadagopan Ramesh, all of whom have been discarded before, and the uncapped Akash Chopra.—Reuters