Kolkata: Dhruv Jurel’s batting 80 added some semblance of respectability to India A’s first innings at the MCG on Thursday, but the bigger question of who will partner Yashasvi Jaiswal in Perth should Rohit Sharma be unavailable for the first Test has not yet been fully addressed. The numbers so far are also not inspiring.

In the first game at McKay, Abhimanyu Easwaran scored 7 and 12 while Ruturaj Gaikwad made 0 and 5. At the MCG on Thursday, Easwaran scored 0 while KL Rahul made 4.

The point is understandable – India tries permutations and combinations to find the best possible option. Easwaran had to be the best choice. But sending Rahul to partner him sends a message that the management is keen to accommodate him for the Test series. Which makes sense because Rahul had scored a hundred in the tour in 2014. But getting him to open might be too big a gamble, that too in a place like Perth. His dismissal on Thursday – on the edge of a short delivery from Scott Boland that dropped and drifted away – doesn’t want any feeling. Rahul had stroked a boundary earlier, but that looked like an aberration on a forgettable morning for India A.

Further compounding India’s worries is the return of Easwaran. On a fast, green MCG pitch, Easwaran got on the back foot to a short ball from Michael Neser that seamed and bounced to fly off the shoulder of the bat. Sai Sudharsan fell on the next ball, caught at second slip, meant Neser bowled a double-wicket maiden in the opener before finishing with 4/27. These are not unusual scenes for Australia’s warm-up games, particularly at the MCG. Expect Perth to be meaner though.

Four Tests is a short sample size – even though Australia have won all four by the narrowest margin of 146 runs – but Perth’s Optus Stadium has been consistent in providing unpredictable bounce and seam throughout the duration of the Tests. Rahul had opened the batting the only time India played at the new stadium, in 2018. He took 2 and 0. Pakistan too found the going the hard way last summer, being bowled out for just 89 in the fourth innings, seven of those wickets coming to fast bowlers. When asked later if he would like to blow the ground in Perth and take it wherever they play, Pat Cummins said: “Every week. That would be wonderful.”

Confidence in Australia’s bounce is a problem for the subcontinent’s batsmen anyway, especially those who don’t want to leave much. And since the pronounced seam of the Kookaburra makes the seam of the ball considerable, horizontal shots are also a strict no-no. The new venue in Perth further exaggerates all these factors, leaving batsmen with very few scoring options even with the old ball. “There’s a few runs to score there, but I also felt as a bowler if you got in the right areas, there’s something in him for the whole innings,” Cummins had said.

Every available statistic about Perth indicates that the onus is cut for the visiting teams to open the batting. And India’s plight – the thought of Easwaran’s debut on Australia’s most difficult pitch – makes it even more ominous. A more experienced and reasonable option exists however in the form of Shubman Gill. Among all the openers India have tried in 2018, Gill has the best average of 51.80. His 91 at the Gabba goes down in history, but also encouraging are his scores in the other Tests—45 and 35* in Melbourne, 50 and 31 in Sydney. It highlights Gill’s ability to not only see the ball but also make his starts count.

Gill has faced question marks, most recently, over his judgment on fourth-stump deliveries. And although he was always destined to bat at No.3, Gill often found himself facing the new ball. Yet each time, be it opening in Australia or the Caribbean later in 2023 with Jaiswal, Gill has looked the part.

The event was his debut at the MCG in 2020, where he was repeatedly beaten by the fast bowlers, but Gill held on to score 45 in a low-scoring game that India went on to win. And when Brisbane happened, India could have boasted about finding an opener by chance. It feels like deja vu all over again, with India needing someone to open with Jaiswal in Perth and perhaps regularly after this World Test Championship cycle. Options seem limited now, but not if India falls back on the tried and tested.