Written by : Hari Prasaath J.R. Loyola College 2nd year MA English Lit
The IPL is a prime league all around the globe. Its finest beauty is figuring out youngsters with prominent talent. In the last few years, the IPL has figured out a larger number of batsmen than bowlers. Most of the finest talents among the batsmen are openers. What could be the possible reason for the success of young openers? The list extends to great names beginning with Padikkal, Gaikwad, Kishan, Shaw, and Jaiswal and extending to Prabhsimran.
All of these young batsmen have a similar style of opening their innings for their respective teams.
The luxury of power plays may be considered a factor in success, but other teams have the same luxury as well. Some of these young players are introduced into the Indian squad, such as Kishan and Gaikwad. Few produce similar success at the global level, while others can’t replicate their IPL track record. Then what would be the possible reason that has enabled success in the global domestic league?
The primary reason that has enabled them to go beyond their limits is their opening counterparts. Their opening partners were Kohli, Faf, Rohit, Warner, Dhawan, and Butler, respectively. These partner batsmen are one-handed match winners, which they have proven in international cricket for years. One major aspect is that the youngsters are given licence to play according to their natural gameplay.
For example, Gaikwad requires five to ten balls to adapt himself to the condition and could compensate for it by playing proper cricket shots. Faf was the major player who supported Gaikwad on the other side by taking the attacking role. The major problem faced by Gaikwad while entering the Indian squad is that his partners are mostly slow starters as well, including KL Rahul and Rohit. Also, he is a right-handed batsman, which lessened his probability of entering the squad.
On the other hand, the natural instinct of both Warner and Shaw is to play attacking cricket. But Warner controlled his natural attacking tendency to provide enough space for Shaw, which enabled him to dominate the bowlers. Most of the openers in the Indian team require time to settle in, which makes him an ideal option. But the openers are already right-handed, which reduces the chances for Shaw as well. On the other hand, the same applies for Kishan, but he is preferred as he provides an additional dimension to wicketkeeping and is left-handed as well. The Indian team could go for batsmen who could fill the distinct vacant spots. Though highly talented, these batsmen have to wait patiently in order to make their roles pertinent for the nation. On the other hand, the success of these batsmen would be purely based on their partners. Their success would continue while playing with similar partners, and most of them tend to develop the tendency to adapt according to their partner, so their standard for cricket would surely reach new heights. Written