Cricket’s long-standing reputation as a batter’s game isn’t without basis, but seldom has it manifested itself more dominantly than during IPL 2024. Scores of more than 200 are being breached with monotonous regularity, more sixes are cascading per match than ever before, the bowlers are copping more punishment than, truth be told, they should.
Armed with a greater understanding of the demands of the 20-over format and buoyed by their pre-season work which entails topping up both skills and powers, batsmen are throwing caution to the wind with absolute impunity. It will stand to reason that, with only 120 deliveries available to them, every ball needs to be maximised. Who best to maximise that than the men tasked with setting the tone, laying the foundation – the openers?
Opening the batting makes different demands, depending on the format. In Test cricket traditionally, that role has often been linked to blunting the new ball, to giving the first hour, if not more, to the bowlers, to gradually bed in and then build towards the long haul. With the ball at its newest and hardest and the bowlers at their freshest, survival more than run-making used to be the singular mantra. That has changed to a great extent in recent times, with the likes of Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Matthew Hayden and more recently Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Yashasvi Jaiswal showing that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Even so, the majority of openers in the long-form game rely on conservatism as opposed to adventurism.
