TATA IPL 2024: In cricket, the openers play a vital role in all three formats. The job of an opening batsman is not to see off the new ball. But in the limited-overs cricket like ODIs and T20Is, the opening batsman should also maximize the first six overs of the Powerplay to gain some rewards for the batting team.
The edition of the TATA IPL 2024 will start on 22nd March 2024 and the first match will be played between Chennai Super Kings Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Before this season starts, today we willll mention the top five highest opening partnerships in history of Indian Premier League tournament.
This is the first-ever 200-run partnership at the opening position in the Indian Premier League. The new franchise Lucknow Super Gants (LSG) openers batted for the whole 20 overs and shared a mammoth opening stand of unbeaten 210 runs.
Quinton de Kock, the former South African wicketkeeper-batsman smashed an unbeaten 140 runs off just 70 balls, and skipper KL Rahul too didn't shy away from scoring runs at the other end. The Karnataka batter was unbeaten on 68 runs from 51 deliveries.
Warner and Bairstow were the destructive opening pair for Sunrisers Hyderabad. But now these two players play for different teams in TATA IPL 2024 edition.
The former openers from the Sunrisers Hyderabad team had shared the highest partnership in the IPL history till KL and de Kock broke the record.
The 185-run stand between Warner and Bairstow came in the IPL 2019 season against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bairstow smashed 114 runs in just 56 balls, and Warner was not out on 100 from 55 deliveries in that march.
The former skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir joined hands with the dangerous Aussie opener, Chris Lynn, in the opening stand of unbeaten 184 runs. Lynn played well for KKR. But after he got out of that team, his form somehow also disappeared.
Gauti and Lynn shared this stand against the Gujarat Lions in the IPL 2017 season. GL (Gujarat Lions) posted 184 runs, and in reply, Lynn scored an unbeaten 93 runs, and Gambhir scored 76 runs to his name, which helped the Purple Army, Kolkata Knight Riders to chase this target down with ease and without losing any wickets.
The current skipper of the Lucknow Super Giants team, KL Rahul, is the only player who has been mentioned twice in this list. KL and Mayank Agarwal shared the fourth-highest opening partnership as per this list. Rahul and Agarwal shared a stand of 183 runs against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2020 season in Sharjah.
Agarwal scored 106 runs from 50 deliveries while KL Rahul played the role of a second fiddle just like he did in the partnership of unbeaten 210 runs, which is mentioned in the first position.
Rahul scored 69 runs from 54 balls. But still, Punjab lost this game despite the mammoth score and the brilliant start.
The IPL 2020 wasn't a great season for Chennai Super Kings. In that season, they couldn't qualify for the playoffs for the first time. But this time, the Yellow Army are the defending champions of TATA IPL 2024 season.
In the season of 2020 which was a disaster for CSK, this partnership between Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis gave the fans of CSK something to cheer for.
The South African and Australian opener duo shared an unbeaten stand of 181 runs against Punjab Kings in a run chase. The PBKS team batted first and set a target of 179 runs for CSK.
In reply, Shane Watson scored an unbeaten 83 runs from 53 balls, and Faf du Plessis, the current skipper of the RCB team, scored 86 runs from 53 balls. They took CSK to a comfortable ten-wicket win over the Punjab Kings team.
