Melbourne: Even as there seems to be a rethink on Rahul Dravid opening the innings in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, some of the former India openers feel asking Dravid to do so may unsettle the balance of the side.

“I think it’s because of the circumstances but the move will prove to be a double-edged sword for the team,” former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth said on Friday.

“It can cut both ways… if Rahul succeeds, great, but if he doesn’t it will badly affect the balance of the team.”

Moving Dravid up will help create room in the middle-order to accommodate Yuvraj Singh as an extra batsman.

“The argument will be that Dravid has faced the new ball often when one of the openers is dismissed early,” former Test opener and coach Aunshuman Gaekwad said on Friday.

“But believe me, opening the innings requires a completely different mindset. If Dravid fails at the top and others in the middle-order score runs, then he will feel the pressure.”

The choice of Dravid as an opener is not cast in iron yet though.

Apparently, some within the Team India think tank are wondering if it would be wise to put their trusted man in the middle order at the top of the ranks.

A few things have contributed to the rethink, the primary being the options at No.3 in Dravid’s absence and whether he is in best shape to be given a role which nobody else in the middle order is keen to own.

It appears that Virender Sehwag, the nowhere man in Indian cricket till a week back, has been put on alert and he wasted little time in rushing to the MCG indoor nets on Friday afternoon to give himself some serious workout against bowling machines. (AGENCIES)