The two guys who come out to face the music first are the OPENERS of any batting side. With the ball new and conditions usually helping swing bowling, these two batsmen need to be the most technically sound and mentally strong in the lineup. The job at hand...'Take care of the new ball' and 'keep wickets in hand'. Well it used to be that anyway. This is an old fashioned explanation of the role of the openers.
The new definition with addition of power play overs and fielding restrictions is a person who could score big runs at the top...take advantage of the fielding restrictions...clear the infield. Bottom LINE...RISK....which is absolutely opposite to the old fashioned explanation...
It all started when Sri Lanka came in with the success of Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana and smacked 7-8 runs per over in the first 15. Then everybody built up on that getting either big scores while batting first or easy chases...they won the world cup in 1996 on pure batting wickets...
Frankly, the world was taken by surprise in 1996 but the bowlers all adjusted to the situation and its a different story now...with videos and full portfolios of batsmen including their weaknesses is on laptops its much more disciplined and planned than before when individual skill was the basic element....
In that situation you see players like Jayasuriya, Gilchrist, Gayle, Sehwag and other explosive openers have changed strategy and dont go ablaze immediately. They rather settle and wait for the bad balls early and when it gets easier use their talent to do the same...as they did a few years back...I must add here that all the successful openers of the world do know how to DEFEND as well when required...and thats why they succeed as well depending on the situation, wicket, conditions and bowling attacks...
So we are in an era where openers have found a mix & match of old and new fashioned techniques and found success....however team strategy has a big role in that as well...
Teams have also realized that we need our best players to have the most overs to face and hence we see players like Fleming, G.Smith, Tendulkar come at top of the order as well...with an attitude to stay there...talent prevails and they score runs at will when settled without any risks...their job is to play sheet anchor...while players play around them...
I ll end this by preparing for my next blog...where Pakistan is one of the most struggling team when it comes to opening partners....more in the next blog...
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