IPL 2023: Ranking top 10 opening pairs

Openers have always played an essential part in the success of the IPL teams. In Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) success in 2021, Ruturaj Gaikwad and his the-then opening partner Faf du Plessis, played a humongous role. Not only CSK, in Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) also took trophy wins in 2020, 2012, and 2016 respectively; openers made a huge contribution. 

In 2012, Gautam Gambhir led KKR to their maiden IPL title victory with his 590 runs in 17 matches, while his opening partner Manvinder Bisla also turned up against bowlers in the final match to help the team clinch the trophy. Similarly, in 2016, David Warner, who was the SRH captain, led from the front to win the prestigious trophy with 848 runs in 17 games.

On the other side, Warner’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan also scored 501 runs in 17 games to reinforce the team alongside his skipper. These numbers and facts clearly show that having a fierce opening pair could be a boon for any side in the T20 league. In the 2023 edition, some-opening pairs justified their roles by performing efficiently, while a few failed to be upto the mark.

Discussing more, here are the ranking of 10 opening-batting pairs in IPL 2023

10. Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (KKR) - {4/10}

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) came out as one of the worst teams in the IPL 2023. In the competition, they gave the opening responsibility to Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Narayan Jagadeesan, but after witnessing the latter’s flop show, they tried Litton Das and Jason Roy too. 

Das also failed to prove himself, but Roy put up a decent show with his bat, scoring 285 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 151.59. Among all KKR openers, Gurbaz played most matches but failed to provide solid starts to the team in a majority of matches. Except for his knocks against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) in match nine and 39, respectively, at Eden Gardens, the Afghan player failed to be among the runs.

Batting alongside Roy in the last few matches, the Afgan batter struggled to provide anything solid to the team. Talking about his overall batting numbers, the right-handed batter scored 227 runs with a couple of fifties in 11 matches at a strike rate of 133.52.