With Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the top of the order, India have been blessed with an intimidating opening pair which more than played its part in the team's escalation to the top of the ladder in Tests in recent times.

However, things have not been the same since India resumed playing Test cricket after the World Cup – their previous Test was in South Africa in January 2010 - as the various opening combinations have cut a sorry figure in India's overseas conquests. India's opening stands in last their 10 overseas Tests, beginning with the first Test of the tour to the West Indies, read: 15, 0, 1, 26, 13, 0, 63, 19, 0, 6, 8, 3, 8, 49, 22, 17, 0, 18. That makes for pathetic reading.

Sehwag's dismissal for naught on the opening day of the Perth Test left India at 4 for 1 and continued a wretched slide in which 22 has so far been the highest opening stand in five innings in Australia.

It could be said that the rot started in England when there was continuous chopping and changing at the top owing to the fitness issues facing Sehwag and Gambhir. But the stand-in openers, Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay, have also fared rather poorly when they have been handed opportunities on the big stage. The two had a highest partnership of 26 in six innings in the Caribbean last year in an otherwise easy time for the Indians.

In eight innings during India's dismal tour of England, the pair at the top which included four players in Mukund, Gambhir, Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, crossed the 50-run mark just once. It's also worth mentioning that the Indian openers were at the top of the list among Test playing nations in 2010, averaging 59.50 for the opening wicket, but in 2011 they were ranked only above West Indies and Bangladesh with meager opening average of 23.46. Excluding home Tests, that poor average dips to a paltry 15.14.

That said, one would have to put things into perspective because India's fixtures in 2010 mainly consisted of clashes against weaker contestants. A two-match home series against Bangladesh at the start of the year and one against New Zealand at the end of it would have been easy pickings for any top team, that too at home.

The statistics speak for themselves; it’s not rocket science that the Indian openers are yet to figure out a way to tackle the moving and bouncing ball.

CNN IBN Live January 13^th 2011.