IPL: 5 bowlers capable of opening the innings for their teams

A few years ago, we seldom found bowlers exhibiting their abilities with the bat. There was never a thought about them batting up the order except for the nightwatchman’s role in a Test match. Just as the thought process went, bowlers too never tried hard to perform well with the bat. They were more than happy with their roles and never attempted going the extra mile. Although there were a few good knocks from some of the bowlers here and there, it was never really consistent. But, with the changing scenarios in the modern game, we are finding more and more bowlers working on their batting. They provide the team with some handy runs down the order. Also, a few bowlers went a step ahead with their batting and are very capable of batting much higher up the order just like Sunil Narine for KKR. Here are the players who can be used for opening the batting for their teams: 1. Rashid Khan | Sunrisers Hyderabad Rashid Khan of Sunrisers Hyderabad in action. (Photo by Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) Rashid Khan is one of the most important bowlers in the SRH lineup. He has won the team quite a few games with his brilliance with the ball. Even greats like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and MS Dhoni failed to pick his googly this year and were left stranded. Rashid Khan has come into prominence with the bat in the Big Bash League recently. The Afghan legspinner has smashed bowlers for huge sixes in the huge Australian grounds. In fact, Rashid also started his career as a batsman before he switched to leg spin. He has made his mark in the IPL as well after he scored 34* off just 10 balls in the second qualifier against KKR in 2018. His innings was potentially the difference between the two sides and helped SRH win the game. SRH could use him as the opener in their lineup given the team’s vulnerability with the bat. 2. Sunil Narine | Kolkata Knight Riders Sunil Narine of Kolkata Knight Riders in action. (Photo by Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) Cricket fans from all over the world are very familiar with Narine’s heroics with the bat. He has evolved leaps and bounds with his bowling and even after all these years, there is some mystery surrounding his bowling. To add to these woes of the opposition, Narine has begun to fire with the bat as well. Narine was first tested as the opener in the Big Bash League in the Renegades team where Aaron Finch sent him as the opener for a few games. That move turned out miracles as Gautam Gambhir at Kolkata Knight Riders stuck with the plan and used him as an opener for most of 2017. Narine plays with absolute freedom at the top in the powerplay without the fielding restrictions. Once the ball lands into his arc, he sends them into the orbits. He is absolutely brutal against the spinners but only struggles when quicks bowl short deliveries to him. Since he has got no real responsibility at the top, he can tend to be absolutely destructive. 3. Harshal Patel | Delhi Daredevils Delhi Daredevils’ Harshal Patel in action. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Harshal Patel was never known for his abilities with the bat before the 11th season of the IPL. He played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier before he moved on to the Delhi Daredevils. He got his opportunities after Shreyas Iyer was handed over the responsibilities of the team. Furthermore, he was given the additional responsibility of batting higher up the order. Patel who played 41 IPL games thus far only batted in 16 innings. Out of the 107 runs he has scored throughout his IPL career, Patel has scored 60 this season itself. Also, he has scored all his runs at a strike rate over 180 all in the non-powerplay overs this year. He could probably be more dangerous in the powerplays and could be ideal for DD’s opening position. 4. Washington Sundar | Royal Challengers Bangalore Washington Sundar of RCB. (Photo Source: Twitter) Washington Sundar was one of the most under-utilised players at the RCB setup this year. He didn’t get to bowl in the powerplay much which is considered to be one of his biggest strengths. He bowled mostly in non-familiar middle overs and failed to do well there. Although this is a huge learning curve for the youngster, he would have been much happier had he got better opportunities. As a result of poor performances with the bat, he place in the XI was not fixed. He had little opportunities with the bat. In those limited opportunities, he has shown how destructive he could possibly be. He has the capability to hit the ball big and clears the rope with ease. He is also good at finding the gaps and hits the ball sweetly. Sundar also started his career as an opener. RCB could try him out as an opener to see what he has in store. 5. Deepak Chahar | Chennai Super Kings Deepak Chahar & MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: Twitter) Chahar has been one of the mainstays in the bowling attack of the Chennai Super Kings. He has got this wonderful ability to swing the ball and put the batsmen in trouble. He is MSD’s go-to man in the powerplays and we have often seen MS use Deepak to bowl four overs continuously straight at the top. Also, he bowled a peach of delivery when he bowled the first ball of the 11th season of the IPL to Rohit Sharma which almost found the latter’s outside edge. Although we haven’t seen him bat much, there were glimpses of his batting when MS Dhoni promoted him up the order in the last league game against KXIP. Deepak scored a quickfire 39 off 20 deliveries in that game showing the world what he is capable with the bat. He can clear the fence easily and could come in handy as an opener although CSK is not in dire need of one.

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IPL: 5 bowlers capable of opening the innings for their teams

Here are the players who can be used for opening the batting for their teams.

3. Harshal Patel | Delhi Daredevils

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