Test Openers are no longer the same today

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In the last test series between India and Sri Lanka, all of us were witness to the carnage that Sehwag and Dilshan unleashed on the respective bowlers. The bowlers had no clue to the way the two batsmen played in the series.

Today, Chris Gayle repeated the dose for the second time on the hapless Aussie bowlers. His innings has kept his often-beaten team still in the hunt!!!

The three of them are changing the way opening batsmen are facing the new-ball bowlers. It could be due to various reasons:

• The impact of ODI (and more so, T20) is making the batsmen play more strokes, thus increasing their strike-rates. 
• The test teams are planning to take early advantage of the game to increase the chances of winning the match.
  
• The quality of openings bowlers have reduced drastically after the retirements of greats like Mcgrath, Donald and Co.
  

What is your opinion on this?

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• Chris Gayle century sees West Indies strike back against Australia in third Test (telegraph.co.uk)
• India on top of second Test against Sri Lanka after centuries from Gambhir and Sehwag (telegraph.co.uk)