Team India has been blessed to have quality opening batters in all formats of the game, delivering sensational performances with the bat year after year. Some of the biggest names to bat at the top of the order for the country, include the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Murali Vijay, among others.
To carry their legacy, the team management and selectors look for potential suitors in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League, without fail. This year, during the IPL 2023, many youngsters stood-up for their respective franchises at the top of the order. In this featured piece, SportsTiger looks at the 5 new opening batters Team India got from IPL 2023.
1. Abhishek Sharma
Abhishek Sharma has been a well-known commodity in Indian cricket for the last few years, due to his consistent performances with the bat and ball during the Indian Premier League. In the 2023 edition of the tournament, he batted in various different positions for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but still managed to score 226 runs in 11 innings, at an average of 20.55 and a strike-rate of 143.95, with two half-centuries.
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2. Atharva Taide
Atharva Taide got limited opportunities to showcase his talent as an opening batter, due to Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh taking up the slots for most of the IPL 2023 season. But still, he did give consistent performances at the top of the order for PBKS to make this esteemed list. Taide got 186 runs in 7 innings at 26.57 average and 144.19 strike-rate in this year’s tournament, including a couple of fifties.
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3. Anmolpreet Singh
One of the most underrated players on the list, Anmolpreet Singh had to wait for a while to get his chance to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023. Even while the team wasn’t delivering results as a unit, he did give some noteworthy performances at the top of the order with the bat. As an opener for SRH in this year’s tournament, he put together 105 runs in 4 innings, at an average of 24.20 and a strike-rate of 126.04.
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4. Prabhsimran Singh
IPL 2023 became the breakout season for Prabhsimran Singh, who went onto score his first-ever hundred in the tournament, an innings which got huge plaudits from fans and commentators alike. Overall, the Punjab Kings player had a fantastic year with the bat as he put together 358 runs at 25.57 average and 150.42 strike-rate, including a match-winning fifty early in the season.
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5. Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal was easily the most impressive among all the potential openers Team India got from IPL 2023. He became the talisman for the Rajasthan Royals at the top of the order with his brilliant ball striking and ability to construct big innings consistently. The 21-year-old scored 625 runs in 14 innings at an average of 48.08 and strike-rate of 163.61, including his first-ever century and the fastest fifty in the history of the league.
