Absence of some key players and a struggling opponent have prompted the Indian team management to toy with the idea of promoting young Parthiv Patel to open the innings in the TVS Cup tri-series one-day international match against Bangladesh here tomorrow.With captain Saurav Ganguly deciding to rest his injured back in tomorrow’s match, the team management is keen to try out Patel as an opener along with Gautam Gambhir, sources close to the team said here today. Promotion for Patel would mean stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag will come one-down in the batting order. Though Patel was in the team for the World Cup, he had not much to do since vice-captain Rahul Dravid was donning the additional role of wicketkeeping in the mega event in South Africa.But with Dravid out of the tournament here due to injury, the 18-year-old will now get the opportunity to showcase his batting talent as an opener. Patel, the lone wicketkeeper in the 15-member squad, was quite impressive behind the stumps in the first two matches of the series. He scored four runs in India’s opener and did not get a chance to bat in India’s second match.But the Gujarat youngster is perceived as a gutsy cricketer who has a lot of batting talent and could be successful as an opener which would give the team the option of going in with five regular bowlers. The strong Indian batting line up has not given Patel the chance to setttle down as he comes in at a time, if at all required, when quick runs are needed.That the left-hander has the talent to succeed with the bat is evident from the fact that he scored a match-saving innings in the second Test against England at Nottingham last year. It was a remarkable effort from a young man playing only his first Test.
