Tests - Best Indian Opening Batsmen

Top 10 Indian Opening Batsmen in Tests

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 Indian opening batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from India.

  • The Rating of the players from India remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from India.
Position Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to include performances of opening batsmen. Innings played only at the specified position are counted in this rating.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 25
Min Runs 500

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 191 8091 230.00
1 FM Engineer IND 1965 1975 1970 48 1577 44.83
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 240.00
1 SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 240.00
2 NS Sidhu IND 1983 1999 1991 69 2911 72.72
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 250.00
1 V Sehwag IND 2002 2013 2007.5 170 8207 173.22
2 G Gambhir IND 2004 2016 2010 101 4119 86.94
3 M Vijay IND 2008 2018 2013 100 3880 81.89
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 240.00
1 KL Rahul IND 2015 2025 2020 100 3599 98.75
2 RG Sharma IND 2019 2024 2021.5 66 2697 74.00
3 YB Jaiswal IND 2023 2025 2024 53 2511 68.90
4 S Dhawan IND 2013 2018 2015.5 58 2315 63.52

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 58.31 160.00
1 YB Jaiswal 53 2 2511 49.24 55.05 151.04
2 SM Gavaskar 203 12 9607 50.30 53.56 146.95
3 V Sehwag 170 6 8207 50.04 49.81 136.66
4 RG Sharma 66 3 2697 42.81 45.69 125.38
5 NS Sidhu 69 1 2911 42.81 43.53 119.45
6 S Dhawan 58 1 2315 40.61 41.62 114.21
7 G Gambhir 101 5 4119 42.91 41.51 113.89
8 KL Rahul 100 4 3599 37.49 39.78 109.14
9 M Vijay 100 1 3880 39.19 39.18 107.51
10 FM Engineer 48 0 1577 32.85 35.28 96.82

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 45 4 2199 53.63 60.03 240.00
1 V Sehwag 115 3 5890 52.59 54.51 217.92
2 SM Gavaskar 173 11 8025 49.54 53.96 215.73
3 YB Jaiswal 43 2 1837 44.80 52.34 209.27
4 RG Sharma 54 3 2298 45.06 49.54 198.07
5 NS Sidhu 38 1 1462 39.51 43.83 175.24
6 M Vijay 77 1 3128 41.16 43.22 172.79
7 KL Rahul 79 2 2890 37.53 41.40 165.49
8 G Gambhir 66 1 2596 39.94 40.91 163.54
9 S Dhawan 44 1 1608 37.40 39.81 159.15
10 FM Engineer 38 0 1248 32.84 35.64 142.50

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 82.03 40.00
1 V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 82.03 40.00
2 FM Engineer 783 1334 58.70 72.74 35.47
3 S Dhawan 2315 3458 66.95 64.86 31.63
4 YB Jaiswal 2511 3803 66.03 61.57 30.02
5 RG Sharma 2697 4592 58.73 56.08 27.35
6 SM Gavaskar 6432 14626 43.98 51.84 25.28
7 G Gambhir 4119 7922 51.99 50.61 24.68
8 KL Rahul 3599 7115 50.58 48.52 23.66
9 NS Sidhu 2891 6611 43.73 48.26 23.53
10 M Vijay 3880 8358 46.42 44.73 21.81

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5890 7098 82.98 81.97 60.00
1 V Sehwag 5890 7098 82.98 81.97 60.00
2 FM Engineer 783 1334 58.70 74.07 54.22
3 S Dhawan 1608 2461 65.34 63.62 46.57
4 YB Jaiswal 1837 2762 66.51 62.45 45.71
5 RG Sharma 2298 3959 58.04 55.83 40.86
6 SM Gavaskar 5614 12932 43.41 51.43 37.65
7 KL Rahul 2890 5733 50.41 48.59 35.57
8 NS Sidhu 1442 3334 43.25 48.20 35.28
9 G Gambhir 2596 5323 48.77 47.87 35.04
10 M Vijay 3128 6852 45.65 44.31 32.44

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 80.00
1 V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 80.00
2 SM Gavaskar 221 220 205 182* 176 172 172 192.57 60.86
3 YB Jaiswal 214* 209 175 171 161 118 101 164.14 51.87
4 G Gambhir 206 179 167 167 139 137 116 158.71 50.16
5 M Vijay 167 155 153 150 146 144 139 150.57 47.58
5 RG Sharma 212 176 161 131 127 127 120 150.57 47.58
7 S Dhawan 190 187 173 134 119 115 107 146.43 46.28
8 KL Rahul 199 158 149 137 129 123 110 143.57 45.37
9 NS Sidhu 201 131 124 116 111 107 106 128.00 40.45
10 FM Engineer 121 109 89 87 86 77 75 92.00 29.07

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 170.00
1 V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 170.00
2 SM Gavaskar 221 220 205 182* 172 172 166* 191.14 128.36
3 RG Sharma 212 176 161 131 127 127 120 150.57 101.12
4 M Vijay 167 155 153 146 144 139 136 148.57 99.77
5 YB Jaiswal 214* 209 161 118 101 87 84 139.14 93.44
6 G Gambhir 206 179 167 114 104 97 96 137.57 92.39
7 KL Rahul 199 149 137 129 123 110 108 136.43 91.62
8 S Dhawan 190 187 134 119 94 81 67 124.57 83.66
9 NS Sidhu 201 116 107 97 97 85 76 111.29 74.73
10 FM Engineer 121 109 89 87 86 77 75 92.00 61.78

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 V Sehwag 173.22 354.58 250.00 100.00 877.80 351.12
2 SM Gavaskar 240.00 362.68 189.22 62.93 854.83 341.93
3 YB Jaiswal 68.90 360.31 145.32 75.73 650.25 260.10
4 RG Sharma 74.00 323.45 148.70 68.21 614.36 245.74
5 KL Rahul 98.75 274.64 136.99 59.23 569.61 227.84
6 G Gambhir 86.94 277.43 142.55 59.72 566.63 226.65
7 M Vijay 81.89 280.30 147.36 54.25 563.80 225.52
8 S Dhawan 63.52 273.35 129.93 78.20 545.00 218.00
9 NS Sidhu 72.72 294.69 115.19 58.82 541.42 216.57
10 FM Engineer 44.83 239.32 90.86 89.69 464.69 185.88

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Sehwag 85 4496 54.83 84.43 897.60 26.93
2 SM Gavaskar 103 4738 47.86 45.79 804.17 24.13
3 YB Jaiswal 26 1393 55.72 73.43 686.79 20.60
4 RG Sharma 41 1766 44.15 66.04 659.47 19.78
5 M Vijay 45 2185 49.66 49.51 633.70 19.01
6 G Gambhir 59 2322 40.74 51.97 607.26 18.22
7 NS Sidhu 24 1435 59.79 44.50 582.46 17.47
8 S Dhawan 17 710 44.38 72.97 515.51 15.47
9 KL Rahul 31 1133 40.46 53.75 488.24 14.65
10 FM Engineer 24 759 31.63 54.85 460.41 13.81

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SM Gavaskar 100 4869 52.92 41.98 856.91 102.83
2 V Sehwag 85 3711 45.26 81.56 808.94 97.07
3 KL Rahul 69 2466 36.26 49.25 620.22 74.43
4 YB Jaiswal 27 1118 43.00 58.66 561.73 67.41
5 S Dhawan 41 1605 39.15 64.59 553.94 66.47
6 NS Sidhu 45 1476 33.55 43.02 486.67 58.40
7 RG Sharma 25 931 40.48 48.54 475.13 57.02
8 G Gambhir 42 1797 46.08 52.03 472.53 56.70
9 M Vijay 55 1695 30.82 42.97 466.70 56.00
10 FM Engineer 24 818 34.08 63.24 432.87 51.94

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Sehwag 109 6091 58.57 85.74 996.31 29.89
2 SM Gavaskar 122 5739 49.47 45.95 818.61 24.56
3 S Dhawan 24 1403 61.00 75.27 674.62 20.24
4 YB Jaiswal 26 1393 55.72 73.43 653.83 19.61
5 RG Sharma 41 1766 44.15 66.04 632.37 18.97
6 M Vijay 51 2516 50.32 49.98 621.91 18.66
7 G Gambhir 73 3015 43.07 54.39 612.12 18.36
8 NS Sidhu 37 2085 56.35 44.94 586.43 17.59
9 FM Engineer 24 759 31.63 54.85 487.53 14.63
10 KL Rahul 43 1458 36.45 53.66 479.07 14.37

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SM Gavaskar 81 3868 51.57 40.94 958.68 115.04
2 V Sehwag 61 2116 35.27 76.36 804.62 96.55
3 KL Rahul 57 2141 38.23 48.68 798.19 95.78
4 YB Jaiswal 27 1118 43.00 58.66 699.90 83.99
5 G Gambhir 28 1104 42.46 46.41 624.88 74.99
6 RG Sharma 25 931 40.48 48.54 587.59 70.51
7 M Vijay 49 1364 27.84 41.03 579.29 69.52
8 FM Engineer 24 818 34.08 63.24 562.67 67.52
9 S Dhawan 34 912 26.82 57.21 482.99 57.96
10 NS Sidhu 32 826 26.65 40.97 436.07 52.33

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 SM Gavaskar 102.83 24.13 115.04 24.56 266.55
2 V Sehwag 97.07 26.93 96.55 29.89 250.44
3 KL Rahul 74.43 14.65 95.78 14.37 199.23
4 YB Jaiswal 67.41 20.60 83.99 19.61 191.61
5 G Gambhir 56.70 18.22 74.99 18.36 168.27
6 RG Sharma 57.02 19.78 70.51 18.97 166.28
7 M Vijay 56.00 19.01 69.52 18.66 163.19
8 S Dhawan 66.47 15.47 57.96 20.24 160.14
9 FM Engineer 51.94 13.81 67.52 14.63 147.90
10 NS Sidhu 58.40 17.47 52.33 17.59 145.80

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SM Gavaskar 93 2595 28.21 40.67 815.58 40.78
2 V Sehwag 63 1718 28.63 80.92 737.58 36.88
3 KL Rahul 44 886 20.60 43.84 504.20 25.21
4 NS Sidhu 23 540 23.48 39.33 470.03 23.50
5 RG Sharma 29 639 22.82 47.47 446.31 22.32
6 G Gambhir 38 722 20.06 44.68 432.56 21.63
7 YB Jaiswal 25 470 19.58 53.17 429.72 21.49
8 FM Engineer 28 535 19.11 53.37 420.60 21.03
9 M Vijay 40 634 15.85 37.51 366.92 18.35
10 S Dhawan 21 375 17.86 47.29 347.17 17.36

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Sehwag 30 2299 79.28 77.54 984.92 98.49
2 SM Gavaskar 30 2168 77.43 47.87 881.00 88.10
3 RG Sharma 30 1642 58.64 56.23 717.03 71.70
4 G Gambhir 30 1732 59.72 52.61 705.16 70.52
5 YB Jaiswal 30 1541 55.04 68.40 701.40 70.14
6 M Vijay 30 1575 52.50 45.85 650.83 65.08
7 S Dhawan 30 1222 42.14 64.90 559.81 55.98
8 KL Rahul 30 1257 43.34 58.14 557.54 55.75
9 NS Sidhu 30 1261 42.03 43.80 550.51 55.05
10 FM Engineer 30 1029 34.30 58.70 487.57 48.76

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

Impact Inns are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or strike rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 SM Gavaskar 191 78 40.84 716.52 107.48
2 V Sehwag 164 65 39.63 633.23 94.99
3 RG Sharma 63 23 36.51 521.39 78.21
4 G Gambhir 96 31 32.29 474.25 71.14
5 KL Rahul 96 31 32.29 470.27 70.54
6 YB Jaiswal 51 19 37.25 465.08 69.76
7 NS Sidhu 68 23 33.82 455.72 68.36
8 FM Engineer 48 16 33.33 445.40 66.81
9 M Vijay 99 26 26.26 364.34 54.65
10 S Dhawan 57 16 28.07 363.98 54.60

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 SM Gavaskar 40.78 88.10 107.48 236.36
2 V Sehwag 36.88 98.49 94.99 230.36
3 RG Sharma 22.32 71.70 78.21 172.23
4 G Gambhir 21.63 70.52 71.14 163.28
5 YB Jaiswal 21.49 70.14 69.76 161.39
6 KL Rahul 25.21 55.75 70.54 151.50
7 NS Sidhu 23.50 55.05 68.36 146.91
8 M Vijay 18.35 65.08 54.65 138.08
9 FM Engineer 21.03 48.76 66.81 136.60
10 S Dhawan 17.36 55.98 54.60 127.94

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 1 SM Gavaskar IND 341.93 266.55 236.36 844.84
2 2 V Sehwag IND 351.12 250.44 230.36 831.92
3 21 YB Jaiswal IND 260.10 191.61 161.39 613.10
4 28 RG Sharma IND 245.74 166.28 172.23 584.25
5 31 KL Rahul IND 227.84 199.23 151.50 578.58
6 39 G Gambhir IND 226.65 168.27 163.28 558.20
7 48 M Vijay IND 225.52 163.19 138.08 526.79
8 55 NS Sidhu IND 216.57 145.80 146.91 509.27
9 58 S Dhawan IND 218.00 160.14 127.94 506.07
10 70 FM Engineer IND 185.88 147.90 136.60 470.38

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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