5 Players who can open for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2020

The 13^th edition of the Indian Premier League will commence on 29^th March with the marquee clash between the Mumbai Indians(MI) and the Chennai Super Kings(CSK). With the IPL just a month and six days away all the eight franchises will be in search of the best possible combination of their respective sides to fight for the coveted IPL title.

Chennai Super Kings have always depended on their powerful batting line ups to deliver the goods. Big guns like Matthew Hayden, Brendon McCullum, Michael Hussey, Dwayne Smith at the top have helped them post mammoth totals.

Talking about the past couple of years, Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu have been their first-choice openers. Even though CSK is a pretty settled line up they have quite a few options in their ranks for that opening slot.

 Here are 5 players who can open for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020:

1. Shane Watson

Shane Watson is arguably one of the best experienced openers in the limited overs format going around. He has the ideal package for white ball cricket. He has the power game, can handle pace and spin with equal ease. After CSK pouched him at the auctions in 2018, he silenced his critics by smashing a really handsome 555 runs in his CSK debut season.

His exploits helped CSK reach previous two IPL finals, even winning one out of the two. The 37-year-old veteran battled bloodied knee in the 2019 IPL final against Mumbai Indians which CSK narrowly lost by 1 run despite Watson’s valiant efforts.

Watson while opening has amassed 1908 runs at an average of 32.90 with a SR of 135.13 in the Indian Premier League. He has scored 8 half centuries and 4 centuries batting at the top. He was the second highest run getter (237 runs) in the 2019 Abu Dhabi T10 League. So, considering his aggression at the top, he seems set to retain his opening slot.