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Follow UsOpeners have been the biggest beating heart of Chennai Super Kings.
You look at some of the best partnerships for the franchise from the past; you will remember Michael Hussey walking out with Murali Vijay, Brendon McCullum walking out with Dwayne Smith or Faf du Plessis with Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Devon Conway’s impact over the last two years has been so profound that if you ask any CSK fan, they look forward to the Conway-Ruturaj Gaikwad partnership at the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Over the last two years, the partnership has blossomed into a stellar one. They’ve put on 1208 runs in just 22 innings, at 54.9 and struck at 150.4. Not just that, the duo have also stitched up the best-ever partnership at the top of the order in the franchise’s history when they scored 182 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2022 edition.
When the two are batting at the top, there is always a sense of calmness in the dressing room and for the fans. However, just ahead of the 2024 IPL, that calmness is about to end, given Conway’s injury, which has ruled him out of the tournament till May.
Breaking a pair of such prowess is always a tough task. It can break teams, but if one team can recover from such suffering, it is the Super Kings. So, how do they replace Conway at the top of the order?
Obvious choice: Rachin Ravindra
Undoubtedly, the five-time IPL winners bid for Ravindra with such an option in their minds. Ravindra is a one-stop solution for multiple of CSK’s troubles. Not only can the southpaw bat ably in the middle-order, where his game against spin is well known, but he is also a menace at the top of the order.
While Chennai might have only seen him as a replacement for Moeen Ali, in case the Englishman falters mid-season, an injury to Conway now opens up a slot at the top of the order. Having Ravindra open the innings solves a big worry for CSK: having a left-right combination at the top.
Ravindra has opened several times in the 50-over format, averaging 34.26 and scoring over 700 runs, including 130 for Wellington against Auckland. He even scored a hundred in the ODI World Cup against Pakistan.
All of this is rosy. It seems like the best solution. But it isn’t.
Ravindra has rarely opened throughout his T20 career. Only on eight occasions has the left-hander opened, and (look away) his numbers aren’t even close to being world-class. The 24-year-old has scored just 54 runs off 59 balls, averaging just 6.75 as an opener.
If you take his T20I numbers, then it further nosedives, with just 48 runs off 49 deliveries as an opener, striking at 98. Add two ducks to it and that’s all the bigger reason for the five-time IPL winners to not open with Ravindra.
So, in that case, where can Chennai look?
Shocking, innit?
Opening with Rahane solves two of the biggest issues for Rahane himself. Across the last 17 IPL innings, the right-hander has scored 243 runs, averaging just 18.69 against the tweakers. If you look at the numbers closely, he gets dismissed once every 14.3 deliveries against the spinners.
Last year, it was evident that the opposition often brought their best spinner on to bowl when Rahane walked out to bat. The results were there for everyone to see. Against spin in IPL 2023, the right-handed batter only scored 161 runs, averaging 20.13, striking at 136.44.
That’s the worst numbers for a top-order (1-3) batter last IPL against spin, with a minimum of five innings. Even his strike-rate (134.26) isn’t at a level where you would consider him actively attacking the spinners.
All of this considered, Chennai could really think about moving him up the order.
Now that numbers have established why Rahane in the middle-order might not work this year, why should he open?
Rahane, as an opener, a viable solution?
Wonder where we have seen that before.
Rahane and MS Dhoni on the same team. It worked at the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants; will it work here?
Let’s put that debate to rest. Ajinkya Rahane’s strike-rate in the powerplay last season was 208.3.
That’s almost a difference of 20 between him and the second-best, Glenn Maxwell. Rahane’s impact couldn’t have been more pronounced in the powerplay. He’s faced 60 deliveries in the 2023 edition and scored 125 runs without being dismissed.
It will obviously change if he opens, but it won’t change the fact that the right-hander could take utmost advantage of the powerplay restriction. The 35-year-old scored a boundary every 3.2 deliveries, the second-best for any batter in the powerplay last year (min 40 balls).
Not just that, Rahane has the lowest dot-ball (23.3) percentage, so there isn’t even the smallest worry that the veteran would waste the field restriction. Whenever the right-hander batted in the powerplay, he also hit six every 8.6 deliveries, which was the best for any batter.
The last time Chennai played two Indian openers at the top of the order…..
Enough said.
Who are the other options?
While Chennai don’t have any other obvious choices, a few others could be used at the top of the order. If CSK are against using Rachin at the top, they could have someone with Moeen Ali’s experience at the top and double him up as an off-spinner, considering the match-ups.
The left-handed batter hasn’t really opened a lot in the last two years but his numbers up at the top are pretty interesting. He’s opened on 61 occasions, with an average of 26.8. The interesting part, though, is the strike-rate.
As an opener, the southpaw strikes at 146.9, the second-best strike-rate in a batting position for him only behind his numbers at No.6. If you look at the 100s column, one of his two hundreds has come up at the top of the order.
That choice could tempt the franchise, given that his off-spinners did come in handy at Chepauk.
Or else there’s Daryl Mitchell.
In the last four years, Mitchell has opened on ten occasions. The Kiwi batter averages 27.11 as an opener, with 72* being his best. He even opened for the Blackcaps at the T20 World Cup in the Middle East alongside Conway, where he showed great control with the bat.
However, the biggest issue is that Mitchell hasn’t opened since November 21, 2021. In the last three years, Mitchell primarily has batted in the middle-order, where his role has been to take on spinners in the middle-overs.
Chennai bought him primarily for that, so there’s every chance in the world that he wouldn’t be pushed to the top of the order.
The most out-of-the-box option could be that a 42-year-old MS Dhoni comes out as an opener. He’s grown his hair long, and he’s back wearing that red hairband and batting with BAS bats. Could this be the one last thing he aspires to do? Rolling all the years back?
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