Who should open with KL in T20s?

[zen]

In the last two years or so, Ind has mainly played 3 players as openers in T20s. KL is in the league of his own:

 

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Primary team India

Opposition team Australia  or England  or New Zealand  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or Sri Lanka  or West Indies

Start of match date greater than or equal to 1 Jan 2018

Batting position between 1 and 2

Qualifications runs scored greater than or equal to 100

Ordered by batting average (descending)

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Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
KL Rahul	2019-2020	14	13	1	604	91	50.33	410	147.31	0	6	0	53	25
S Dhawan	2018-2020	26	24	0	780	92	32.50	572	136.36	0	5	0	81	23
RG Sharma	2018-2020	28	27	2	711	111*	28.44	505	140.79	2	4	2	64	38

 

 

All teams:

View overall figures [change view]

Opposition team Australia  or England  or New Zealand  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or Sri Lanka  or West Indies

Start of match date greater than or equal to 1 Jan 2018

Batting position between 1 and 2

Qualifications runs scored greater than or equal to 300

Ordered by batting average (descending)

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Showing 1 - 11 of 11

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Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
DA Warner (AUS)	2018-2020	14	14	6	511	100*	63.87	353	144.75	1	5	0	50	15
Babar Azam (PAK)	2018-2019	19	19	3	828	97*	51.75	631	131.22	0	9	0	88	12
KL Rahul (INDIA)	2019-2020	14	13	1	604	91	50.33	410	147.31	0	6	0	53	25
AJ Finch (AUS)	2018-2020	17	17	3	544	84	38.85	338	160.94	0	5	2	52	28
MJ Guptill (NZ)	2018-2019	17	17	0	575	105	33.82	380	151.31	1	5	0	41	34
DJM Short (AUS)	2018-2018	11	11	1	337	76	33.70	258	130.62	0	3	0	35	13
C Munro (NZ)	2018-2019	21	21	1	651	104	32.55	382	170.41	1	4	1	53	44
S Dhawan (INDIA)	2018-2020	26	24	0	780	92	32.50	572	136.36	0	5	0	81	23
Tamim Iqbal (BDESH/ICC)	2018-2020	12	12	0	355	74	29.58	276	128.62	0	3	1	33	13
RG Sharma (INDIA)	2018-2020	28	27	2	711	111*	28.44	505	140.79	2	4	2	64	38
Fakhar Zaman (PAK)	2018-2019	21	21	0	464	91	22.09	317	146.37	0	3	2	59	15

 

 

The idea that KL would have to compete for the opening slot with Rohit-Dhawan appears a NO-GO at the moment. As mentioned, KL is in the league of his own .... While it is not even sure if Dhawan and Rohit should be in T20 setup now (unless in exceptional form) .... Who should open with KL? Should India consider a young and/or new opener - Shaw, Agarwal, Gill, ....?

 

Vote in the poll and discuss. 

Edited March 6, 2020 by zen

[Lone Wolf]

KL & Rohit should open in WC but Pant & KL may form a deadly duo in Powerplays. Pant should've been tried at the top earlier as his batting would suit field restrictions 

[maniac]

Rohit and Shaw should open and KL at 4. He has transformed himself into a wonderful M.O player and as much as I like Iyer, if it comes down to these 2 I would pick Rahul in the m.o

[zen]

9 minutes ago, maniac said:

Rohit and Shaw should open and KL at 4. He has transformed himself into a wonderful M.O player and as much as I like Iyer, if it comes down to these 2 I would pick Rahul in the m.o

In ODIs, KL would get a lot of overs to play at 4-5 .... In T20s that may not be the case so KL, who is much ahead of other Indian openers, would be considered to open unless of course the TM prefers to start on the back foot and potentially crash out of a tournament 

Edited March 6, 2020 by zen

[zen]

I would like to see how these guys go in IPL to see who is inching ahead

 

Areas that these guys need to improve upon:

 

Shaw: fielding and running b/w wkts

Gill: ability to play under pressure .... don’t recall his fielding 

Pant: play longer innings (key player for DC) 

Agarwal: consistency and game against left arm seamers ( Aus has Starc, NZ Boult) 

Rohit & Dhawan: SR and consistency. At the moment, even their IPL teams would not miss out if they do not open 

Other contenders (though unlikely to be considered) - Jaiswal (if he gets to be in the 11 for RR). Can bowl too 

 

 

[zen]

SRs 

 

KL 147 (as opener) 

?

Kohli 139 (at #3) 

 

Ideally, you would need a higher SR player like the below to open with KL and if Kohli is at 3:

 

Finch 161

Roy 164

de Kock 165

Munro 170 

 

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

KL n Rohit, rohit starts slow but once he is set very few can cause damage like him and he loves aussie pitches

[maniac]

Maybe using Thakur as our Narine can be tried. He has a good hitting arc against pace 

[Sooda]

Answer : India and KXIP, both teams should open with KL

[zen]

5 minutes ago, Sooda said:

Answer : India and KXIP, both teams should open with KL

The question is who should open w/ KL  

[SRT100]

5 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

KL & Rohit should open in WC but Pant & KL may form a deadly duo in Powerplays. Pant should've been tried at the top earlier as his batting would suit field restrictions 

This  is the most penitent point raised, in powerplays with fielding restrictions, Pant can be deadly.

 

With just two men outside the circle, he can afford to miscue a couple of shots with the safety of restricted fielders on the boundary.

 

India and their team management are useless, they cannot see the wisdom of how best to use Pant.

[Gollum]

6 hours ago, maniac said:

Rohit and Shaw should open and KL at 4. He has transformed himself into a wonderful M.O player and as much as I like Iyer, if it comes down to these 2 I would pick Rahul in the m.o

Come on, KL as opener will be a deadly weapon, best in the world. Why should he make way for slow starters and/or rookies? If he can maintain his 50/147 stats in the T20 WC he will be MOTM and give India real winning chances. 

[Lannister]

Devdutt Padikkal.. with that a right-left combination. Let Pant bat at #4 and he should take the wicketkeeping duty. 

 

[raki05]

I hope Rayadu have a good ipl again like last year so that he and Dhwan can open followed by Kohli, rahane and dhoni.

[RajBan]

6 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

KL n Rohit, rohit starts slow but once he is set very few can cause damage like him and he loves aussie pitches

Plus Rohit given that he starts slow and he is going to be the second name after Kohli in the team sheet if fit , he should bat at 1-2. He can bat at 1down only if Kohli is not playing. Any other position in T20 is not suitable for him and the team.

[Vickydev]

Shaw with KL would be extremely devastating. But Rohit's best spot is opening and he has to play at his best spot. One of Shaw or Rahul will have to bat at 3, with Kohli at 4. That's the best utilisation of our batting resources in this format.

[Stan AF]

zen is back to his old tricks.

 

Everyone knows that rohit sharma will open no matter what.

[Nikola]

21 minutes ago, Stan AF said:

zen is back to his old tricks.

 

Everyone knows that rohit sharma will open no matter what.

Exactly for now they can't even get rid of dhawan from t20 format so how will rohit go that easily? also dhawan has high chance to play as opener for t20 worldcup along with rohit.

[Gollum]

What I wish:

KLR

Rohit

Kohli

Iyer

Pandya

Pant

Karthik....actually a very good T20 finisher

 

WILDCARD: Shaw

 

What I am expecting:

Dhawan

Rohit

Kohli

Pandey

Dhoni

Pandya

Jadeja

 

WILDCARD: Rayudu (back from retirement)

 

1st team will cruise to SF and give rise to some new star(s) (Rahul, Iyer, Pant), 2nd team will guarantee group stage exit but ensure Kohli looks better than what he is. We know what Kohli is going to do, don't we? Brand endorsements>>>>>country.

[Lone Wolf]

6 hours ago, SRT100 said:

This  is the most penitent point raised, in powerplays with fielding restrictions, Pant can be deadly.

 

With just two men outside the circle, he can afford to miscue a couple of shots with the safety of restricted fielders on the boundary.

 

India and their team management are useless, they cannot see the wisdom of how best to use Pant.

Exactly TM is so short sighted.  Pant mistimes most of his strokes but in Powerplay he may clear infield most of the time. We can have our own Munro.  These two can match Roy Bairstow in PP batting.